A Rebel's Promise
by sidsaid
Summary: Ben is constantly fighting; fighting his Knights, Hux and even himself, whilst Rey seeks learning, knowledge and a path. Yet what divides them is what will ultimately bind them. Still mourning Luke's loss, Rey looks to forge a path alongside the Jedi of yesteryear and Ben will do his upmost to stop her, even if he breaks in the process. [Follows the events of TLJ] Ben/Rey
1. Chapter 1

_The eternal struggle for Light and Darkness is a story without an end. When Rey closed the door on Ben, she thought that had been an end, but the Force isn't quite done with them yet._

 **Hello. I started writing this in December and for some reason, decided to start posting now. This is my second endeavour into Star Wars FF and I would like to say first and foremost, that this will be set after The Last Jedi and subsequently will include spoilers for it, though I imagine that everyone has seen the film by now. This will be a multi-chapter piece and I hope you will enjoy it.**

 **Note that this story will also be partially linked to my Ben Solo drabble story, so characters from Ben's training days that turn up in this story, will most definitely be in the drabble story!**

 **I do not own Star Wars or Lucas Film and will not claim to own it in future.**

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 **A Rebel's Promise**

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 **Chapter 1**

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Ben Solo walked in abject silence.

Rather than it being a personal desire, the remaining officers on the sole fully-functioning Star Destroyer; _Absolution_ , took it upon themselves to keep far away from their new Supreme Leader. It was not hard to imagine that disrupting the gloom following Kylo Ren was enough to deserve a beheading by Lightsaber.

Mourning was a foreign concept to them all, yet the crew piloting the lone starship were at a loss regarding what to do about losing 75% of the fleet to one Resistance fighter. The subsequent stint on Crait had merely given foolhardy scavengers a head-start to pilfer First Order technology, and once the disillusioned convoy had returned to space, there was little more than dead bodies, space junk and the badly damaged _Supremacy_ ; a shell of its former glory, left to recover. The destruction had resulted in the death of several hundred thousand crew members and several senior officers. The _Supremacy_ 's current location in the outer rim territories now made it a liability, as it functioned at 25% efficiency without weaponry or manoeuvrability capabilities. Whatever was left of First Order resources remained on Atterra Alpha with some of Hux's fledgling Stormtroopers, so repairing the Dreadnaught starship was of the upmost priority.

It had already been twelve hours since the Resistance had abandoned Crait, and there was an eeriness and anxiety in the air that persisted. Even the lower ranks knew of the animosity between Kylo Ren and General Hux, therefore it was apparent that the loss of Supreme Leader Snoke would cause nothing but mounting tension which would be reflected in Hux's treatment of the crew.

Within hours of the First Order leaving Crait, General Hux had already knocked several teeth out of a crewman, angered by his lack of decorum when speaking of the dead Supreme Leader. Despite reducing the Resistance down to paltry numbers, rather than seeing it as a victory, Hux saw it as an endless headache, particularly in consideration of Kylo Ren's new position. The General, even if he did not like the Knight, knew him well enough to know that killing off the remaining members of the Resistance would become his obsession, and that he had no choice but to do the Supreme Leader's bidding.

Armitage Hux had since then remained in his ready-room on the _Absolution_ , his blaster laid out in front of him as he stared it down resolutely, wishing he had been ten seconds earlier and had been able to kill Kylo Ren while he was down. Knowing nothing would come of wishing the past changed, he stood, retrieving a cup of Tarine tea from his food synthesiser and inhaled the scent of the beverage in order to relax his mind. It did its job and he located the call button on his desk, prepping what was left of his high-ranking officers without ships, for their arrival and relocation to Atterra Alpha for the time being. Unfortunately for Hux, this meant leaving behind his preferred senior officers; Colonel Garmuth, Captain Yago and Lieutenant Stynnix with the _Supremacy_ and the other starships in need of repair.

Kylo Ren still walked alone and undisturbed. He could taste the fear in the air and he tried to find some comfort in that. He was the Supreme Leader now. He had the power, he had succeeded where his grandfather had failed and he had destroyed his master to take on the gauntlet of leadership. This was supposed to be the epitome of his path on the Darkside, yet he felt nothing but sombre regret and frustration. He had wanted Rey with him, he had pleaded with her, and she had said no. He had wanted to kill his uncle with his own hands, and yet he had been denied that. All he had to his name was the murder of his master and some Resistance fodder.

For the fifth time in an hour, his Lightsaber was again in his hand, ignited and swinging at stray panelling, the weapon screeching as it sparked and tore through metal. He growled, shouted and tried to release his pent-up anger, yet it did nothing, he was not free from it. And when Kylo reached his quarters, dropping his Lightsaber to the ground and following it onto his knees, he felt the brunt of his emotions. Without Snoke around to force him into stability, the emptiness submerged him and he drowned in his own pain. His uncle was dead and his vengeance was unrealised. His anger sought a release that couldn't be found and the one thing he thought he had, even for a day, had disappeared, and all he could remember was the light press of her finger tips against his.

 **XxX**

It was difficult for Rey—watching the dejected yet hopeful faces of those around her, everyone still reeling from the loss of so many friends and family. Rey felt the rhythmic thrum of their emotions carried along the Force like music and it vibrated across her skin and left whispers in her ears. She felt what they felt, even if it was beyond her understanding—she couldn't say she remembered the feeling of true loss at all. Rey could only comfort those around her with cups of warm sapir tea and try to settle her own mind, still reeling from the days of utter incredulity.

She still hadn't said the words to Leia. That Snoke was dead and that Ben had done it. Rey couldn't bring herself to explain what had happened on the _Supremacy_ and what it could possibly mean for the Resistance's future. Even if mere hours had passed and everything was still a flurry of confusion and mourning, Rey's mind was still preoccupied with Snoke's broken body and Ben's outstretched hand. There were moments when she thought that perhaps she had imagined it all; that there had never been a moment where their minds were connected; a moment where she felt as if she could save Ben. Yet that feeling of hope in his return to the Light had not disappeared completely, just dipped beneath the surface of her preoccupied mind.

How could she explain any of this to Leia? Of all people, Rey knew that the General would believe her, yet that did not comfort her. Rey felt almost like the bystander among all of this. She had not fought when the fleet had been attacked, and her input on Crait itself had been minimal. She felt like a fraud among people she did not know and the person who she was closest to, was still practically a stranger to her. It wasn't like on Jakku where her loneliness was a necessary part of her survival. Here on the Falcon, it felt like a self-made isolation, existing because she had decided to be a Jedi, to become the cloaked stranger like Luke had been in his final moments.

Luke was gone, or perhaps not gone, just absent. She could not feel his familiar strength and fortitude within the Force, yet she knew he was with her. Before she had left Ahch-To, Rey had had the brief opportunity to glance over the books she had pilfered from the Temple. Though archaic in every manner, she had felt the hum of past Jedi in the pages; knowing that they had read through the tomes just the same, while also remembering those who had come before them. The books felt like they contained life and with life, the memories and the experiences of every Jedi. Rey knew that when the time was right, she would see Luke again.

Rey placed another blanket around a young ensign as she traversed the small area left of the Millennium Falcon's floor. They had still not set a destination and Rey was happy to at least be busy, happy that amongst the hustle and bustle, she would not see Ben, even if she could feel him in the corner of her mind. If she tried hard enough, she imagined she could feel what he felt and though she knew it should disturb her – like the idea of them sharing a Force bond once had –, she was beyond that now. It was difficult to compartmentalise what had occurred in such a short amount of time that even her heart had yet to catch up with her true feelings. That look Ben had given her when she had shut the door of the Falcon, it had almost caused her to hesitate, like her own body wanted to war against her even when her mind had already decided. Rey feared that day—when her heart would eventually catch up, when she would feel Luke's loss, when she would feel Ben's. Perhaps she had closed him off then, maybe she should have said something more, though Rey couldn't imagine what that could have been. He had chosen his side and she had chosen her own.

Her hands stilled on the pot of tea, long enough that Rey felt her palms begin to burn and she moved them away swiftly and looked down at the red marks colouring her pale skin. A soft and furry hand reached out to hers and she turned to see Chewbacca looking down at her with earnest eyes.

'I'm fine Chewie,' she offered, giving him a wry smile.

He responded in the negative, and seemed to reprimand her on withholding information.

She chuckled softly, looking up into his blue eyes. The Wookie had to have been the warmest person she had ever met and he still remained so, even when Han's death was so fresh, even though Luke was gone now too.

Rey wrapped her arms around Chewbacca's waist and squeezed him tightly, finding comfort in his warm arms and trying to bleed her own settling emotions into him, to allow him to understand her.

'We're safe at the very least now, Chewie, that's all I care about.' She paused and looked back up at him, making sure he understood her. 'Everything else will fall into place later on, we will have time.'

He nodded, adding an affirmative growl and with one last pat on the shoulder, he let her go, ready to speak to Leia–his last remaining friend from the old days.

Rey looked about herself, seeing the crew maintain some semblance of calm even as they flew into the unknown. Her heart stirred as she looked into their faces and she smiled, resolutely knowing that her purpose lay with them, lay with protecting them. Ben had been right about one thing; the past should be let go of, and always to make space for the future. Perhaps not to the extent of an absolute purge like he had meant, but Rey could not say that being made to see the truth of her parentage had not been wholly freeing. Despite Ben wanting it to be the reason for her to go to him, it further solidified her resolve–that the path of the light was the right decision.

Making her way back to the cockpit of the Falcon, Rey opened the drawer beside the co-pilot's chair and her fingers carefully glanced across the tomes before selecting one that she felt called to her. This was where she would have to begin. Without a Master, without even a working Lightsaber, just the old texts to aid her.

Her fingers caught the edge of the book and then she paused when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked down to see Leia smiling up at her.

'A book?' she questioned, not having seen one since her childhood.

Rey tried to hide her guilt as she answered. 'I took it from the temple. I thought at the very least, if Luke wasn't going to use them any longer, that I may as well make use of them.'

Leia seemed amused and took the co-pilots seat, leaning her walking stick against the console and gesturing for Rey to sit down too. The young woman put the book away and sat down across from the General, waiting to be spoken to.

Her expression grew sober then and she reached out to take Rey's hand, holding it between her two. 'Firstly, thank you.'

'I didn't do–,' Rey began, though was quickly interrupted by Leia.

'You did everything you could. We could have lost everything but we didn't, and so the most important thing we can do is to not give up and fight for the future, or everything we have lost would be for nothing.'

Rey nodded and looked to their joined hands. 'I have to be honest with you Leia,' Rey began, looking up at her. 'Unless Chewbacca has already informed you of my earlier escapade.' The young woman attempted to smile wryly, but she was not successful.

'I won't judge you.' Leia said simply and Rey assessed that the General knew more than nothing at the very least.

'I was on the _Supremacy_.' Rey began. 'I had gone there thinking I could persuade Be-Kylo Ren to leave Snoke and do what was right.'

Leia's brow furrowed heavily and her hand tightened on Rey. 'Why would you do such a dangerous thing?' she questioned.

Rey swallowed. 'Snoke had been manipulating the both of us, bridging our minds and the both of us…we were far too naïve, thinking it a great sign from the Force. I thought that I could bring him back to us and he thought the same of me.'

'Perhaps it was,' Leia offered, leaning further forward. 'The Force is a strange thing and that is certain.'

The young Jedi shook her head. 'I had tried to think the same, though I think the both of us are worse off because of it,' she admitted. 'Snoke tortured me for Luke's whereabouts and ordered Kylo to kill me, but he killed Snoke instead. I thought for that moment, for those five minutes at least, when we were fighting Snoke's guards together, that perhaps he had changed his mind. I thought that he would call off the attack and that there would be no more losses, but I was wrong.'

The General looked sombre and nodded in understanding. 'Do not take the blame for Ben not following you. You were brave and perhaps foolhardy to go onto Snoke's ship, but you made a decision with your heart and the Light in mind.'

'Did I not just make things worse?' Rey questioned.

Leia shrugged her shoulders lightly. 'Who are we mere mortals to tell?' The older woman looked tired, yet there was a brightness to her eyes that Rey did not miss. 'I told Luke before he went to face Ben that I thought my son was truly lost and he told me that no one's ever really gone. I realise the truth in his words now. There is always time for change and all we can do is hope that perhaps one day he will see and do what is right. Without it being a manipulation.' The General straightened up and looked carefully at Rey. 'Is there anything else?'

Rey reached towards the drawer again and opened it, removing the pieces of broken Lightsaber and placing them in Leia's hands. 'We fought over the Lightsaber and so I don't know what use I will be to the Resistance currently.'

Leia smiled widely and shook her head, passing the pieces of broken weapon back to Rey and grabbing her cane and squeezing its head. 'Every person here is important, as Poe has been saying since we got here, we are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.' The General stood then. 'All I want from you right now, though, is for you to sleep and to not worry so much. We will have tomorrow and the day after. We will build, we will start anew.'

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 **Thanks for reading**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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Rey adjusted her headset and glanced briefly at Chewbacca in the co-pilots seat, before she gently pulled the hyperdrive lever, grabbed a stronger hold of the controls and pulled the auto-pilot switch.

'Prepare for entry,' she murmured, her voice repeating over the Falcon's speaker.

Rey could hear the shuffling in the corridors and around the ship as what was left of the Resistance grabbed hold of whatever they could. There had only been space for Leia and Poe in the crew seats within the cockpit and despite some areas of the main and forward holds having seating, it wasn't exactly secure. The injured held dominion over the crew quarters and Finn had decided to take what he considered 'the lookout spot' in the gunner bay.

After some adjustments by Chewbacca, the Falcon cut quickly through Ahlenn's atmosphere and she deployed the landing gear. Rey looked out from the window, surveying the land below. It was a terrestrial planet; mostly rocky terrain interspersed with forests. There was little movement on the ground, however and Rey could not see any settlements. As they moved in closer, Chewbacca constantly adjusting their trajectory according to Leia's coordinates, Rey could see the large craters that peppered the planet's surface. It was clear that the scars were not natural and she glanced back towards Leia, who was conversing quietly with Poe. The planet had to have been attacked in previous years, though Rey could not see much that would warrant such an attack.

They moved steadily along the surface and after several minutes, Rey began to see the remains of a settlement. It was littered with craters, but she could see stray scrap, weathered by years abandoned and she wondered why Leia would have left them all to such destruction.

Chewbacca told her to bring the ship lower as they approached a large mountain range and it became clear as to what they were aiming for. There was a small outcrop at the base of the mountain, not a cave, but as if it had been partially hollowed out and what remained was a tunnel. There was a small stone covered field that stretched in front of it and from Rey's experience, it seemed to resemble an airfield.

Her co-pilot gestured to the field itself and Rey pulled the ship over a small canopy of trees and then down onto the field. Once they had touched down, she released the entry ramp and opened all of the exits.

There was a hustle as people began to mill about and speak again, all waiting for Leia's next instruction. Leia gestured to the group to exit the spacecraft and Rey watched from her pilot's chair as they all slowly went outside. Once there was no one left on the Falcon, herself and Chewbacca followed.

Leia stood in front of the small group of rebels and smiled gently.

'For those who seek an introduction, the planet we have landed on is Ahlenn. An abandoned Rebel base, thought destroyed during the Galactic Civil War. As you can see, the Empire did cause some partial destruction, however the bulk of the base lays within the mountain and beneath our feet.

'It will be a suitable place for us to get our bearings and decide on our next steps. The planet can provide enough for us and we can begin to rebuild here.'

Rey could see that though the Resistance were weary, Leia's words seemed to bring them some hope. There were a few smiles and many held each other closely, happy to be alive.

Without Finn in sight, Rey made the assumption that he was taking care of Rose and the other wounded. The young woman had woken, but was still bed bound. Without the medical ship, there was little they could do to accelerate the healing process.

Leia continued to speak to the group. 'Take the day to settle in, explore your surroundings. Myself and Commander Dameron will assess the base itself.'

 **XxX**

Kylo Ren hadn't expected it to irritate him so much. To feel Rey at the peripheries, know she was there, but not be able to see her. It was as if he were both alone and in company and oftentimes, when there was a flash of peace, he believed that the thoughts weren't his own, that they couldn't possibly be his.

Though not even a week had passed since Crait, what was left of the First Order were growing more irritated with him. Kylo was no fool and those around him had no semblance of an understanding of the Force. He knew what they were thinking; that he was a fool that was going to get him killed, though Kylo didn't care. It was almost laughable that any of them considered that he cared for their lives. They were a means to an end, an end which he did not yet know, but an end all the same. His only issue was Hux, whose volatility if left unguarded, could jeopardise him.

Then Kylo thought yet again of Rey and what she was doing, what she was even planning. He wanted to see her. He wanted to destroy her. He wanted to see her just once.

'Supreme Leader, we are now in orbit of Atterra Alpha. Shall we ready your cruiser, sir?'

Kylo Ren glanced up from his seat in his small ready room on the _Absolution_ , glancing at the insignia on his grey uniform and noting the words _Clyss Power_ , signifying that a Lieutenant was speaking to him. 'Yes Lieutenant, be quick about it.'

The officer nodded and departed, leaving Kylo to yet again stew in his annoyance.

When they reached the surface, at least then he could think about their plan. Out in space, it just felt like trillions of voices were trying to be heard and for a moment he missed the Jedi Temple; the claustrophobic living space and the incessant annoyance of children younger than him thinking it was all a fun pastime. He had wanted to be strong.

Kylo felt his blood boil again and he stood, avoiding knocking the table over and just taking a deep breath, his knuckles tightening in his leather gloves.

Atterra Alpha had been the base of training operations for several years now. Hux had made the suggestion to Snoke that the main Stormtrooper training planet be moved every five years in case the Resistance caught wind. Though they had suffered heavy losses prior to landing on Crait, there was still a heavy stock; 25,000 strong even, of suitably aged Stormtroopers, whose training could be accelerated for active duty.

That wasn't what he had come to the Outer Rim planet to personally oversee, however.

On landing at the base, the Supreme Leader was led immediately through the upper chambers and to the throne room that Snoke had previously kept. It was uncomfortable. Firstly because of its vast size, and the ridiculous large, ornate, black marble throne that stood raised in its centre. That was one thing Kylo was discomforted by and the large space was far different to what he preferred: The cockpit of his fighter, the four walls of his quarters, even the small domed ceiling of his temple hut.

He blinked back the thoughts again, hating that they came more readily now. As if something else were triggering them.

Kylo stood by the throne, his eyes glancing over the arm rest and wondering what he should do with the ostentatious piece of furniture. Then he turned, sensing the person before hearing their light footsteps.

'We heard of the Supreme Leader's demise,' Xhona murmured as she stopped in front of Kylo. The helmet-wearing Mirialan did not take a knee, though it did not faze him. 'And of Master Luke.'

He flinched in response to his uncle's name, yet he was brought out of his gathering emotions when more footsteps approached, followed by the muted laughter of a singular figure.

'I find it hard to believe that you took his life yourself,' Jojen started, looking at Kylo with his usual contempt, his helmet attached to his belt unlike Xhona. He had dyed his short hair orange since Kylo had last seen him and it made him look like even more of a nuisance.

Kem knelt however, his electrostaff held against the ground in front of him as he bowed his head. 'Sir,' he said, before removing his helmet and resting it on his knee. In the light of the throne room, the gold tattoos against his blue cheeks were almost invisible. Yonduun followed him, also kneeling and removing his helmet, seeming to appreciate the loss of pressure on his large, sloping horns. Kem continued; 'We gathered in case orders had changed, considering your recent loss.'

'The loss should be felt equally between us all.' Kylo said simply, deciding to sit on the arm of the throne, still elevated as he looked over the Knights.

Jojen laughed again. 'I don't remember us being personal servants to that mutilated old man.'

Xhona turned to the insolent man, glaring at him, though her expression unseen through her helmet. 'Words said only because he is dead. You wouldn't have dared if he were still alive. I imagine it wouldn't have been very trying for him to kill you from another planet, even.'

'You have too much faith in your skills, and think that they won't be subject to future scrutiny,' Kylo added. He then glanced at the fifth Knight; Mar, who still stood in the shadows of the entrance, his back leant against the frame. The Supreme Leader considered what the Kiffar was thinking, not being able to meet his gaze through the dark mask.

'Firstly,' Kylo said, finding himself finally settling into the throne beside him and watching as the remaining helmets were removed. Mar approached, swinging his flail from hand to hand, his black locks tied in a loose knot at the top of his head, and his yellow face tattoos bright across his tan cheeks. He stopped a reasonably large distance away, however. 'I would like an update on your activities.'

Xhona nodded and held her hand out back towards the entrance and a box flew through the air and stopped at Kylo's feet, unlocking and then opening. Inside were papers, old and wearing away, many of which were shreds or had burn marks marring the pages.

'This is what we gathered from the Sith and Jedi temples on Thule, Krant, Devaron and Tython, though we were not able to translate everything we found. Much of it has been lost.' Xhona said, her expression passive.

Kylo rubbed his temples but sifted through the things in the box anyway, noting that some of the papers were on the cusp of disintegration.

'I'm compelled to think that there is still more out there just waiting to be found.' He murmured and then looked back up at Xhona and then glanced to Mar across the room. 'You look like you have something to say.'

'We heard there was a girl,' the Kiffar said simply.

Xhona looked visibly agitated by the word _girl_. Everyone in the room generally ignored her reaction, though the Supreme Leader was just as much affected by the word and he adjusted himself on the throne. The bond came to the forefront of his mind and he felt his head tingle as if it were trying to feel out for Rey in that moment.

'The girl who killed Snoke?' he questioned. 'Luke Skywalker's last pupil.'

Jojen let out a noise of irritation. 'How did she manage to find him and learn enough to fight Snoke? I thought you were close to finding where Luke was hiding.'

Kylo put up a hand to quiet Jojen, constantly annoyed by him. 'I don't know what he taught her, or whatever innate ability she has.' He swallowed. 'She managed to best me for a moment and she had the opening to kill Snoke. Without Luke I can't imagine there is much she can do, or much more she could learn.'

'What if she begins to look for artefacts?' Mar questioned, his expression balanced. 'It seems like a logical next step for her if she has no Master to even teach her the basics.'

Xhona stepped forward then. 'Who is she, though? Where did such a strong Force sensitive come from so suddenly?'

'She's nothing but a filthy scavenger,' Kylo said, seemingly incredulous to his own words. 'Nothing spectacular, she came from the muck and somehow exists.'

Several of the eyes on him narrowed somewhat, not used to their leader's casual aloofness.

'She could not have been convinced?' Kem questioned and though he received a mean-spirited glare from Xhona, there was some merit to his question.

Kylo's lip twitched lightly and he shook his head. 'I had tried to compel her on the superweapon base, but when she came to _Supremacy_ , most likely to kill us both, Snoke thought that he could take the information he wanted from her and kill her. He managed to take what he wanted, but she overpowered me and subsequently killed Snoke.' The lies came relatively easily, despite how unlikely they sounded.

Yonduun was frowning heavily. 'How skilled is she that she was willing to board the Supremacy with such confidence?'

The young leader didn't respond, just continued to frown. She had come for him. She had been confident that she could win him over and perhaps she had. He had chosen to keep her alive, so he killed his master and even if he had hesitated, that had been the outcome.

'What shall our goal be then?' Xhona began, interrupting the silence that began to grow in the air. 'Shall we actively search for her in order to get rid of her?'

Kylo considered the woman for several moments, unsure. He wanted to find her himself, he wanted to get rid of this bond the two had and that required knowing what caused it. If he knew, Kylo wondered if he could manipulate it to his favour. Leaving this solely to the Knights seemed like a dangerous idea, especially if they found her and she let slip anything about him.

'Not actively. There is a chance that Mar is right and that she will seek out artefacts, in that regard, we should continue our search to stop her.'

Kem spoke up next. 'What if we come across her?'

'Capture her if possible, kill her if not. I'd prefer to deal with her myself.'

The Knights made murmurs of agreement and Kylo Ren leaned back into the throne. 'I suggest you all continue to train.'

'Any hope for a Kyber crystal?' Jojen questioned, though tried to put some amusement into his tone. It was marginally successful.

Kylo looked to him. 'If you find them you can keep them. Though it will be useless if they do not call to you.'

The orange-haired man nodded and his hands slipped into his pockets. 'Same old same old,' he murmured, before bowing briefly and strolling back to the entrance.

Yonduun and Kem followed him and Xhona hesitated before doing the same. Mar was the only one left in the throne room and he had still been reasonably far away, leaning against a pillar halfway between the door and the throne. He leant off it then and approached Kylo.

'She didn't kill you, Ben,' Mar murmured, though it seemed more like a question.

Kylo frowned. He'd never said it, but the Kiffar had a way of reading him that he didn't like. When they were younger and still with Luke, he remembered how his uncle would speak with Mar often and alone. The young Solo had never been able to acquire the content of their conversations out of Mar and up till now, he felt that the dark-haired man kept as many secrets as he could.

Mar smiled then. 'Fine…Kylo.' He went into his pocket and pulled out a small package and handed it to his leader. 'If she didn't kill you, she must see something we don't.'

'Are you practicing your telepathy?' Kylo questioned with amusement. He unwrapped the package, seeing the glint of two clear and unanointed crystals, both cold to the touch. The last crystal that he had, had, back when he was still a pupil under Luke, he had found and cherished for weeks before he had been able to build his Lightsaber. Snoke had destroyed the blue blade as soon as he had arrived in front of him, throwing the crystal inside into space. A part of Kylo had broken then and the crystals that Mar had gathered since never called to him like his had when he was fourteen. He wrapped the crystals up again and slipped them within his cloak.

'Jojen will continue to bring them up,' Mar stated simply.

Kylo shrugged. 'If he manages to find one without you intervening and gets it to listen to him, well then I'll be impressed.'

'What about the crystal you have?'

'Unstable. The crack in it continues to grow bigger and I haven't worked out how the Sith managed to corrupt them, or else I would use one of the ones you have given me.'

Mar nodded and looked like he was about to leave before he paused. 'Snoke isn't here anymore. He has no dominion over us any longer. We can take power. If you give the crystals to Kem, I'm sure he'll figure out how to bend them to us, how to use them and then we'll be formidable.'

Kylo nodded, though he looked unsure. 'The Resistance and the girl are our priority. If we find plans for Lightsaber builds, perhaps then.'

The man swallowed but nodded, not speaking anymore of the topic before he left the room.

The Supreme Leader was left in the quiet of his throne room, his knuckles cracking within his leather gloves, and his shoulders tight with apprehension. The authority he had meant that Snoke was no longer there to dictate what the Knights did, and like animals who had been chained for most of their lives, the prospect and chance of freedom had them salivating. A fact Kylo could not forget or take lightly.

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 **Thanks for reading**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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Rey awoke with a start. She'd been back on the _Supremacy_ , the ship splitting in two as she stood across its chasm, facing off against Ben. She had considered at the time that perhaps the Force had created this physical separation between them yet again to warn her. Rey was not blind to the dangers her Force connection with Ben could cause, not even when she thought that he could perhaps turn and follow her. Even if she had cut off the connection once, it wasn't promised that the both of them couldn't be manipulated by someone else, or perhaps that even Ben could manipulate her just like Snoke had done to him. The thought made her shiver and it did not help considering she wasn't at peace even in her sleeping moments. Rey's dreams were eerie and when she caught the eyes of the Ben in her dreams, it almost felt like she was looking at him, that he was truly there.

The uncomfortable feeling of someone constantly being behind her, in her peripheries, had not disappeared since the resistance had left Crait. Even though Rey had not seen Ben again, she knew that if her will allowed it, or if he forced enough, the connection would be as clear and as crisp as it had been on D'Qar.

Leaning up from her bed, Rey glanced around the small bunkroom on the Falcon and she caught sight of Poe's boot hanging from the other bunk. The Commander usually rose with the dawn, so Rey made the assumption that she had missed out on a much-needed supply of sleep. She slid from the lower bunk and stretched briefly, before grabbing her staff and leaving the small dormitory.

The ship was silent other than the hum of machinery. Most of the others had taken spots within Ahlenn's base, but Rey felt it was better that she didn't get too acquainted with being on the planet. She knew she had to keep moving and despite finding a home with these people, there was a path forging ahead of her.

A week had passed since the small Resistance team had landed on Ahlenn and being on land seemed to have settled spirits somewhat. From what Rey could gather from the longer serving members of the Resistance, the planet must have been a past consideration for the Resistance, maybe even the Rebellion, and so General Leia had chosen it as the planet to settle on until further notice. The climate was temperate, and Rey found comfort in the soft breeze that seemed daily present. She didn't miss Jakku and she didn't miss Ahch-To; even if the incessant rain had been fascinating, the place just reminded her of loss: of Luke _and_ Ben.

Rey had pushed her thoughts of Ben to the fringes of her mind, not wanting to stir their still insistent connection and not wanting to feel her heart breaking for him. The connection had almost ruined her and she could not hide or deny that. She felt such unadulterated pity and empathy when it came to him, that it had been distracting for those few days. If she did not think of him, then perhaps the bond would slowly melt away to nothing.

She above all hoped that there was something within the Jedi texts. The only thing that had so far held her back was the strange language written in several of the books, that not even C-3PO knew. The runes were unlike any the droid had seen before and Rey wished that she had, had the opportunity to look at the books with Luke, if only he hadn't been so stubborn on Acht-To. Despite not being able to read about the intricacies of the original Jedi religion, there were diagrams and images that were somewhat helpful. It had been clear very early on in her reading attempts, however, that the texts were truly from a different time. The few books that were written in a more archaic form of Aurebesh went through combat styles, positions for meditation and there were even chapters regarding the building of weapons. However so much of it was entrenched with hierarchy and images of suspect events or perhaps trials, that were useless to Rey. She was too old to be a Youngling and had no master to be a Padawan. It amused her how irrelevant the pages describing the Jedi Order or what a Chief Librarian's diet should consist of, were now.

What had become apparent was that she would have to build on what was written. Many chapters regarding combat had not even included the use of Lightsabers. She had even found herself chuckling at the archaic builds of the early weapons, noting that there must have been many injuries as a result of poor construction. Though what did present itself, was the opportunity to forge a connection to the Force, which all of the books, even those she could not effectively read, seemed to encourage in great detail. Rey knew where she would begin and that was with meditation. At the very least, her mental connection to the Force could allow her to further distance herself from Ben and put her in better stead for her solo training in the future. Then perhaps she could begin to translate whatever was left.

Rey passed through the Falcon's main hold, taking a long drink of water from a small tank in its wall and then she exited down the boarding ramp, shivering slightly from the morning chill. She could hear the distant chirp of birds and feeling out further, Rey felt the Force, flowing through everything around her; the wild life, the insects, the grass, even the sleeping Resistant fighters two hundred metres away inside the base. She took a breath and took long strides towards the small outcropping of trees, holding her staff against her shoulder as she walked.

The young woman hummed as she went, remembering a song the old women of Niima Outpost would sing under their breaths whilst they scrubbed away at scrap. It was about remembering where we came from and that once all was done, we'd be dust again. The thought reminded her briefly of Luke, that the words in that song weren't dissimilar to what he had taught her. The Force was forever, and we were only a brief moment in its infinity.

In a way it comforted Rey. That there would always be an end to the struggle, whether that meant because you overcame it, or it eventually passed out of existence. Though a part of her was fixated on this concept of balance, it helped to at least pretend that her part to play was small and not as a counterweight, a cog within the machine.

She knocked her staff from her shoulder and trailed it across the dirt, turning up the earth to reveal the darker soil beneath, still saturated with the moisture from the last rain. Her mind went to Ben, as it often did when she did not manage her thoughts and she dug deeper, temporarily scarring the ground. It was merely a brief flash of his eyes as they looked at her on the _Supremacy_ , his hand stretched out towards her, promising her the universe and everything within it. In another moment, he was gone and she fought her mind to preoccupy itself with the present. And that present was finding a place to meditate.

 **XxX**

The Knights had left Atterra Alpha since their briefing and Mar's words continued to disrupt Kylo's thoughts.

 _Snoke isn't here anymore. He has no dominion over us any longer. We can take power. If you give the crystals to Kem, I'm sure he'll figure out how to bend them to us, how to use them and then we'll be formidable._

Yet Kylo was continuing on Snoke's wish to leave the Knights with rudimentary weapons and to keep them as separate from the Force as was possible. The crystals were more than just the hearts of their weapons, they represented a barrier, leaving those without access to the crystals mere acolytes, and Kylo with all of the power.

When they had been younger, training as the next generation's Jedi, Kylo had trusted them all with his life, to the extent that he had taken them with him, but now it was different. So much time had passed and the separation had altered the relationship between Kylo and the knights. He couldn't call them friends anymore, and even as he considered Mar's suggestion, he only saw how the idea could backfire on him, particularly when it came to Jojen. The man had always had a frustrating way of convincing people to follow his way of thinking and Kylo wouldn't have been surprised if the Force had something to do with that.

Kylo's thoughts automatically shifted to Julius and he felt a brief flicker of guilt and trepidation at the memory. It was Julius' death that had triggered the animosity among the Knights when it came to Kylo and he wasn't blind to it. Though it was well hidden, it was only Mar who Kylo didn't, at the very least, sense brief contempt from. Even Xhona. Kylo hadn't forgotten the numerous times the Mirialan had talked him down from a ledge when they had still been with his uncle. He knew now that she must take their detached relationship as purposeful indifference. He'd promised her more than this and even _that_ he was beginning to forget.

Would it be better for him to share the crystals with the knights or would that only lead to more problems and another set of potential enemies at his back? There was no question that Hux was becoming a bigger issue than when the two were merely Snoke's acolytes. Now that Kylo held the leadership in his hands, the General sought to establish his dominance in any way he could see fit.

As soon as they had landed on Atterra Alpha, Hux had selected several thousand early graduate troopers in the space of two days and was gathering all senior officers together to discuss the Navy's next steps, only informing Kylo after the fact. Despite not snapping as the Supreme Leader considered he should have – he knew that the man was taking liberties that needed to be put in line eventually – Kylo had decided to watch the red-haired General far more carefully.

Regardless of the fixation Kylo had on Mar's words and Hux's growing insubordination, it paled in comparison to the frustration he had over Rey. He thought his anger had encompassed it all; swallowing anything else he felt for her, yet the persistence of her slight presence had begun to infect him like a drug. Her Light seemed to seep into him when he lost concentration and for a brief moment it was comforting, it made him forget that she had left him, that her destruction was of paramount importance. If it wasn't her, it would be him.

'Supreme Leader.' Kylo was violently snatched from his thoughts by the smarmy voice of Hux. The General stood with an obvious lack of care in the centre of Kylo's small ready room, a datapad in his hand.

Kylo braced himself, his jaw tightening as he looked up at his supposed subordinate. 'What now?'

Hux seemed irritated by Kylo's answer and stood straighter, training his gaze on the dark-haired Force-user. 'Repairs are now fully underway on the _Supremacy_. We expect that it will be in travel condition within two months and will be battle ready in six months more.'

'That's not good enough. Do you know what the Resistance are capable of in a single month, let alone two?' Kylo countered, his expression pinched.

'I have experience in witnessing the scum continue to rise to the top, this is no different. There are few of them left, we are mere steps away from seeing their final destruction.'

Kylo leant forward, looking at Hux keenly. 'You sound as if you can see the future. Was it not you who acted too late meaning that we lost a Dreadnought-class starship to a handful of flying trash that the resistance call ships? I imagine the same can be said for the _Supremacy_. It is a wonder that you are still the General of this navy at all.'

Hux swallowed and Kylo could see his gloved hands tighten into fists.

'Do not forget your place, General.'

'It will be done in a month, though I expect you will allow our recruitment efforts to be increased three-fold?' Despite it being a supposed question, Hux's words sounded very much like a statement.

'Where?' Kylo asked, finding a hesitation in his voice that he did not expect.

Hux held out the datapad to Kylo, almost tossing it into his hands. 'There are still three nearby planets we have yet to begin our operations on. I expect one hundred thousand from the three alone. Further platoons of middle-grade troopers can then be moved off-world for general guard duties and support. Particularly useful for those who are turning out…less than expectations demand.'

Kylo's eyes narrowed. 'You would send middle-grade troopers and expect quality results?'

'I assure you that even the youngest have at least five years of combat training. They will grow to make up the rest fast enough.' Hux said simply and took the datapad back from Kylo.

'Retrieving the _Supremacy_ is of paramount importance. Focus your efforts on that.'

'Yes Supreme Leader,' Hux answered, trying not to grit his teeth together as he nodded his head and briskly exited the room.

Kylo looked after the man as he walked out, wishing that Force-choking him to death would be a tenable solution to his problems.

The red-haired General, however, raised his head as he left the Supreme Leader behind, satisfied that he had gotten what he wanted. Regardless of the power Kylo Ren now held, the senior officers– the true leaders of the First Order– would look to him first. If Kylo, in their eyes, became nothing but a figurehead, then it would be much easier to take control and to run the First Order as it had meant to be run. Armitage Hux's vision, untainted by the work of his father, the power of Snoke, nor the temperamentality of Kylo Ren.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Sorry for the wait :/**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Rey opened her eyes. Her meditation had been interrupted, thought the disturbance was forgotten in a moment. She looked about her, spotting several small birds fly past and then heard the distant manoeuvring of people and machines coming from the base. The sun was higher now and its glare left leafy shadows around the alcove Rey had found among the trees. It was warmer than it had been the previous day and from the rumble in Rey's stomach, she knew that it must have been past breakfast time.

She unfurled her legs and stretched, smiling as she felt the sun's warm rays and feeling at peace after hours of meditation. Rey felt comforted by it. Though she had grown accustomed to being alone and hating every minute of it, meditating felt like she was part of something. That every single molecule in everything around her accompanied her, comforted her as she sought out more.

Rey took up her staff from its place leaning against a tree and started back to the base, knowing that she had to show her face at least once before lunch.

'Rey!'

She smiled at hearing the familiar voice say her name, and she turned to see Finn jogging over to her. 'You missed breakfast _and_ lunch again,' he said in a huff, before narrowing his eyes at her. 'Did you just wake up?'

A laugh erupted from Rey that she hadn't expected, and she shook her head, knocking Finn's shoulder to turn him back towards the base. 'How's Rose?' she asked easily, taking a side glance at Finn to gauge his reaction.

There was hesitation on his lips before he spoke, but he managed to smile wryly. 'She's talking. Talking a lot actually.' Finn paused and his brow furrowed. 'I wish I could do something more. It's my fault.'

Rey smiled and pulled on Finn's sleeve. 'I remember when you were ready to run away from danger. You wanted to do something and be the hero that you haven't believed yourself to be.' The young woman stopped then and took Finn's hand. 'Don't forget your mistakes, but don't let them rule you.'

Finn sighed heavily and nodded. 'Thanks,' he mumbled.

'What were you running out to see me about anyway?' she asked, pulling her staff by its strap and lifting it over her shoulder.

'Ah, General Organa wants to see you.'

Rey nodded and gave Finn a brief smile of thanks, before hurrying toward the bunker.

The facilities' heavy pneumatic shutter that served as the entrance was wide enough for a Lambda-class shuttle, but not much more. While the Resistance had arrived on Ahlenn with only the Falcon, the Rebels of yesteryear had left behind a few airspeeders and small crafts that had helped to grow their stocks of food and materials from around the planet, but it also meant that without any deep-space crafts to restore, Ahlenn was likely to be the home of the Resistance for longer than they had anticipated.

As Rey passed through the tunnel and hanger bay, she gave brief greetings to the few crew she passed. Rey was happy to see that the base was quickly becoming functional, with the worst of its damage coming from non-use rather than destruction. She even passed by R2D2 and BB-8 – who beeped happily when he saw her – fixing some circuitry on a communications port.

Leia's ready-room was a small storage room – unneeded considering the currently dwindling numbers of the Resistance – that had been gutted and refitted with a large table, several chairs, and a tea set in its centre. It was simple, and as Rey stepped through the open door, she assumed that Leia wanted to keep it like this, to maintain the idea that they would not be here for long.

'Rey.' The older woman murmured her name with warm familiarity. 'Please sit, have some tea. Did you eat?'

Rey couldn't help but note some trepidation in the General's voice and she did as requested—placing her staff against a wall and taking a seat on the long side of the table, while Leia sat at the table's head, leaning her stick against her chair. Rey shook her head.

'I was meditating and seemed to have missed my chance,' she responded, realising perhaps she _was_ hungry. The sensation of hunger had been a constant in Rey's life for as long as she remembered, so she often forgot that it was not normal to consistently be starving.

Leia reached forward, pouring the hot beverage into two cups and slid one towards Rey with a smile.

'Thank you,' Rey said as she brought the cup to her lips, blowing on the steam.

'It's been a while since we last spoke in confidence and I've been thinking deeply about how to proceed from here. Particularly regarding your future, Rey.' Leia began, her hands closing over the cup, cradling it in her grasp.

Rey blinked and met the woman's eyes. 'If you need me to do something, I'm happy to oblige?'

The General shook her head. 'Not quite. It's the opposite, really. I feel that perhaps if we depend on you too much, we will only become a hindrance to you. We wasted years looking for Luke and though he saved us in our hour of need, was it really worth it at all? Perhaps if we had not been so hell-bent on finding a man that didn't want to be found, we wouldn't have lost so many.'

'General, I—' Rey began, before being halted by Leia's raised palm.

'I know I shouldn't dwell on the past, but it led me to think about your place in this all. You are our hope, but not our only hope. You also must have your own path, one that the Force has set for you, whether with us or without us. I don't want you to ever think that you must remain here. Just like anyone else, you are free to go.'

Rey smiled then, putting her tea down and reaching out, her still warm palm lying against Leia's. 'I could never feel that way. The Resistance has become the closest thing to family that I know. Anything that is out there for me, will always be with you all in mind. I want to protect what I love.'

Leia paused as she read Rey's expression. There was something in it that was difficult to read and it bothered Rey, but Leia relented, nodding and smiling lightly. 'I'm glad to hear it, though I imagine that you can't continue your training sitting around here.'

The young Jedi hadn't considered much beyond translating the old texts, rebuilding the Lightsaber and meditating.

'I hadn't thought of my next plan of action yet,' Rey responded, her mouth twisting in thought.

Where could she go? Where did the Force call her to? She blinked then, seeing an outstretched hand in front of her and feeling a tightness in her chest, as if a string were wound around her heart and one end was being pulled. Rey looked into her tea, trying to centre herself using the dark ruby colour as Leia let out a breath.

'I'm not sure how long we will remain here. We have sent out a message on our channels calling those who had not been with us on D'Qar or Crait to reconvene here. Perhaps then we can gauge our true numbers and re-establish our place in the galaxy.'

Rey nodded into her tea, smiling lightly. She had remembered what Poe had said on their second night here, when he had forced both herself and Finn to have a night-cap on the Falcon. The two technically new recruits knew very little, Rey having been absent for so long and Finn having been unconscious and on his own foolhardy mission with Rose.

'The New Republic commanders?'

Leia nodded, smiling briefly. 'Poe said that he spoke with you. We are hoping that when Captain Wexley returns with what remains of the black and blue squadrons, that he will lead good tidings.' The older woman finished her tea, placing the cup back on the tray and she leant forward, closer to Rey. 'Whilst we decide on how to proceed, I want you to follow your own path, wherever that may be.'

'I…' Rey hesitated, trying to read Leia before she nodded curtly. 'I will, but even if I do leave, please don't leave me out of the fray if you are all ever in trouble. The idea of—'

Leia grinned, touching Rey's cheek lightly. 'Don't worry, Rey. The beacon will always be on, we will always be waiting for you.'

Rey let out a breath, matching Leia's smile and she stood. 'Thank you,' she murmured. 'Thank you so much.'

The General nodded and gestured to the door with her hand, allowing Rey to leave with her staff in tow.

'Make sure to eat,' Leia called out after her and Rey couldn't help letting out a small chuckle.

Her legs seemed to be in conversation with her stomach, because Rey found herself being pulled to the tiny kitchen and mess hall, where C3-PO was wearing an apron and seemingly berating himself as he moved about inside.

'Miss Rey, I was told you may come. Please sit, I will bring you some sustenance,' he chirped, and Rey did as she was instructed.

Her hands went to her bag then, pulling it across her body and opening the flap to remove the contents: the remains of the Skywalker Lightsaber.

The sight of it broke Rey's heart. The shorn metal, the cracked and pained crystal, the reminder of what could have been and the memory of that hand, that face, that _please_. Even as she lay the broken weapon in front of her, she couldn't figure it out at all. Fixing things came so naturally to Rey but faced with the prospect of fixing this Lightsaber – with its painful history – she felt anxious. Even though it did not work, there was something about the weapon that still hummed with life and Rey couldn't bring herself to abandon it, yet at the same time, she couldn't imagine wielding it any longer.

C3-PO appeared then carrying a tray. 'This is a place to eat Miss Rey, not a mechanics shop, please put that scrap away.'

'This used to belong to your master,' she murmured in response, sliding the shards of metal back into her bag.

The golden droid seemed to consider her words for a moment and he placed the tray in front of her. 'Then perhaps you should purchase a new one. If it belonged to my master it must be in need of an update,' he added as he waltzed off.

Rey sighed and speared a vegetable on her fork, eating regardless of how unbalanced she felt. Perhaps C3-PO was right, maybe it was time that the legacy died with this broken Lightsaber. Out of Skywalker hands for good, left to the wind like empty cloaks on cliff edges.

She found herself sitting in the mess hall for far longer than deemed appropriate. Rey just watched people come and go, feeling that ebbing within the Force whenever they'd fly close within her sphere and she relaxed into their emotions. Where there were tribulations, there was still such bright and shining hope that Rey could ease herself into it and find peace in that.

When the thought struck her, Rey sketched her plans for a Lightsaber build on a napkin and resolved herself to dreaming it into existence, knowing she had very little idea where to start.

After several hours of quiet contemplation and people watching, Rey stood to explore the base again, her bag swinging loosely at her side as she traversed the hall back to the hanger.

There was a hand in hers then and she turned, finding the warm grip of Lieutenant Connix and a bright smile on the young woman's face. 'Rey, you must come, Rose has been cleared to leave the medical bay.'

Rey allowed herself to be pulled along, glancing briefly back at the mess hall and then looking ahead of her as Poe jogged over to join them. Rey had briefly met Rose when she was still unconscious, so only knew her through Finn.

When they had arrived on Ahlenn, the medical bay had been empty of anything medically related, but the cots remained, and they had quickly brought Rose inside to continue her recovery. If they had, had a bacta tank, perhaps she would have already recovered, but they had been forced to heal her through archaic methods and small bacta units. Her wounds had not been fatal, though had been severe enough that the medical staff found it best to keep her asleep.

Connix's hand dropped away once they entered the space and Poe moved forward, standing beside Finn. Rose was sitting up in her cot, her face still slightly bruised, but a bright smile on her face. The tension that Rey had felt within Finn and seen in the space between his brows, seemed looser and he smiled easily as Rose spoke.

'I'm telling you, I don't feel a thing' she said simply.

'Maybe you should become a pilot. With those kind of odds, we could use you in the black team.' Poe spoke up with a grin, sitting down on the cot beside Rose's.

Finn turned, sending him a glare. 'Not the best time to be recruiting, Poe.'

The newly remade Commander grinned and waved his hand before leaning back on both his arms.

Finn then looked at the door, smiling widely at Rey. 'Rose, this is Rey, I'm not sure if you remember since you were…not really awake.'

Rose smiled up at Rey, inviting the young Jedi to step slightly further into the medical bay. Rey briefly waved, happy to see the young woman awake. She owed her a lot. She had saved Finn's life.

'It's nice to officially meet you.'

'You too,' Rose responded. 'Finn wouldn't stop jabbering away about you the whole time we were on Canto Bight, so it's nice to put a face to the name.'

'I didn't mention her that much,' Finn grumbled, though he didn't look annoyed.

Rey grinned, satisfied with the warm emotions that swam through the room. Everyone was bright and smiling, even if tragedy had not been too far from the present.

'I wanted to thank you when I met you,' Rey added, and everyone turned to her. She bowed her head slightly, feeling her loose hair drift across her shoulders to curtain the sides of her face.

Rose's brow furrowed, and she shook her head. 'I didn't do anything, it was just—'

Rey shook her head. 'Thank you.' Her eyes glanced to Finn and she nodded. 'What are we if we cannot protect what we love?' There was a beat of silence that Rey filled with a grin. 'I wish you all a good evening,' she said as she backed out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

Thankful that there were no crew members in the immediate facility, Rey felt a rush of air escape her lungs and she closed her eyes tightly, feeling the uncomfortable twisting of her tongue. _Love_. The word was so frustratingly foreign to her and it only served to remind her that it would remain that way. What was love? Truly? Rey thought she had an inkling, thought that if she knew how it felt to love her friends, perhaps she would finally understand why her lot in life had been to be traded for drink money and abandoned on a desert planet. She'd thought when she was younger, alone in her AT-AT, starving and wrapping herself in scraps to fight the bitter cold Jakku nights, that her parents loved her, regardless of the reasons why they left her behind. Though ever since the _Supremacy_ , she had begun to feel like a child left out of a game. Perhaps love was never meant for her, and perhaps there was a chance that she was undeserving, merely existing to be of interest to the Force and its mysteries.

Her feet slowed, and she gripped more tightly onto her staff, fighting at the tug in her chest that had not stopped since the day she had shipped herself to the _Supremacy_. What was her part in all of this? Why did she have to share a link with Kylo Ren?

Rey grit her teeth together, closing her eyes as she moved into the cool night air, basking in the sounds of small insects chirping in the dimming light. She sighed after hearing the distinct rumble of her stomach and slowly ambled towards the Falcon, kicking broken tarmac as she went. There was something about the day that had set her on edge, and she felt impatient knowing that the answer was at her peripherals and on the tip of her tongue.

Chewbacca was messing around with the wiring in the cockpit when she entered, and he shouted for her to eat, much to Rey's amusement. She grabbed some of the bread he'd left out and she leaned her staff against a wall as she went to look through her small collection of books in the small bunkroom. Trailing a forefinger across their spines, she stopped and pulled the smallest tome out, one of which that was not written in Aurebesh. She had guessed on first opening that it was a list of all the Jedi Temples ever built, with information on what planets they were on, the climate and the species.

She sat on the edge of her bunk, flicking through the pages and carefully looking over the diagrams and images. There was an image of an ice planet and a strange symbol sat beside it. Flicking back through, she noted that the symbol was repeated on several other images of planets and Rey gave pause, trying to evaluate what this could mean. Her finger drew its way around its star like shape and she closed her eyes, thinking of the connection between these planets.

Taking up the single tome that had spoken on Jedi weaponry in Aurebesh - a language she could read - Rey turned through until she stopped with a grin, seeing the same symbol and noting the page was titled 'Kyber Crystals'.

That was it. That was her plan of action.

Going back to the original book, she noted where the ice planet was located on the star map printed within and grinned. With the help of her datapad, it was short time before she was matching the maps and reading planet specifications in order to search for a match.

 _Ilum_. That was what it was called. That was where she would start.

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait. OMG.**

 **I'm actually gonna start updating weekly now.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

There it was again. The incessant smirk on Hux's face that he seemed to have made his go-to expression when he deemed he had the upper hand.

Kylo watched from his chair at the head of the strategy table, one elbow propped on the arm and his chin sitting squarely in his hand. He stared down the red-headed man, restraining himself from throwing him through a wall, which would definitely have killed him.

'As indicated by the dwindling flow of resources coming out of this sector of the inner rim, we need to put more troops there to increase production. Captain Ishmael, who was stationed on the ground six months ago, is under the impression that the workers are slacking on purpose.' Hux said simply, his eyes drifting over his datapad.

Several officers spoke up to give their opinions and Hux seemed to nod along with what they suggested.

'Perhaps you should consider examining the situation yourself,' Kylo murmured, having to force himself to put life into his voice.

They all looked to the Supreme Leader and Captain Yorick nodded in agreement, followed by several others.

Hux seemed to chew on the inside of his cheek. It was clear to Kylo that he did not want to be overseeing resource drives on Riosa.

'Or would you rather oversee the _Supremacy_ 's repairs? Because I'm beginning to suspect that you aren't needed here on Atterra Alpha.' Kylo continued.

The general's face began to glow red, and Kylo held back his smirk at the frustration on the red-head's face. 'The recruitment drives…it is quite necessary for me to remain on this planet…Supreme Leader.'

Kylo leant back, assessing the general and then looking to Lieutenant Yax beside him. 'General Hux, I'm sure you can take some time out to run a production assessment on Riosa. The lieutenant can manage your other duties in the meantime.'

Hux's jaw tightened and he nodded reluctantly. At that Kylo stood abruptly followed by the others in the room, and he nodded to them all. 'I think that's enough for the day.'

He was out of the room without another word, swallowing down his own frustration. Kylo made the walk back to his ready room squeezing his hand into a tight fist and tensing his jaw. It would have done him no good to snap now and so he held back his roiling anger in favour of formulating how he would proceed.

The decision to meditate was simple, despite his hesitation on the act itself. His fear, though unfounded, came from the thought that Snoke was still around to peer into his mind, to influence him as he often had during these moments of quiet. Even now that the man was dead, Kylo still felt as if Snoke's rancid stench was poisoning the air around him, trying to seep into his own decisions.

Kylo grit his teeth together as he sat folded in the centre of his quarters, barefoot and stripped down to his inner tunic. After several laboured breaths, he settled into a pattern of breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, his eyes closing.

It was difficult to restrain the tug of the bond in this state. It was more susceptible to making its presence known and he felt it beat along with his heart, felt the warm touch of the smatterings of Rey's Force signature at the edges of his mind. Fingertips touching his temple, a breath against his throat.

Kylo closed his eyes tighter, putting extra pressure on subduing the bond. He knew her hold was lax then and guessed that Rey must have been asleep. If he allowed it, Kylo imagined that he could see into her dreams, though that would have also opened himself up to her — something that he couldn't allow.

He reached out carefully, tentatively exploring the world around him. The murmuring of life across Atterra Alpha, how it ebbed and flowed, the living and the dying. Reaching out further and further until it felt as if he could see the planet, the whole system, even.

Then the word began to pulsate within his mind. _Ilum. Ilum. Ilum._ Calling to him with every breath, with every beat of his heart.

Kylo opened his eyes and frowned, seeming to balance the name on his tongue, unsure of what the Force meant by giving it to him.

He stood and bounded over to a console, inputting _Ilum_ and his eyes scanned across the wealth of information before him before he opened up his communicator.

 **XxX**

Rey felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her awake and she turned, her forehead sliding against the table as she peered up at Poe. He was smirking and she leant up, rubbing her eyes and looking at the disorder of books on the bunk-room's table.

'Up all-night studying?' Poe questioned.

She could see by his stance, the stubble across his jaw and the almost zoned-out look in his eyes that he had been up all night, most likely drinking. He had a cup of caf in his hand and the other rested against the bunk.

'Something like that,' she returned, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Her hands flipped through the materials, trying to recall where she had left off and when exactly she'd fallen asleep. She grabbed for her datapad and flipped through the contents, before noting that Poe was still behind her, watching over her shoulder.

'Ilum?' he questioned, yawning lightly. 'Didn't the Empire tear that ice planet up years ago?'

His words were confirmed when Rey flicked to the planet's schematics and it was clear that it had been ravaged. The collapsed and torn apart crust could be seen from space. It's surface almost floating within its own atmosphere.

'Holiday destination?' Poe questioned.

Rey chuckled lightly and shook her head. 'I feel like I'm being called there. The Force is telling me that there is something there that I must see.'

Poe didn't comment, just drank back more caf.

She turned to look up at him and he was scratching his jaw. 'You're looking at me like you want something.'

Rey smiled. 'A shuttle and some clearance?'

Poe clucked his tongue. 'I'll think about it,' he answered and swallowed down the rest of his beverage. He grabbed for his jacket that had been hanging off the top bunk and he gave her a nod before sauntering off.

She briefly smiled to herself, knowing that her path was forging on ahead of her. Even if everything else was iced in a fine layer of confusion and hesitation, at least it was clear that Ilum was the next step. Even if it wasn't to find a crystal, it was to find more.

 **XxX**

A mere day had passed when Poe approached Rey again in the hanger bay with a wide smile and a bag full of supplies. She had been confused for a moment, though realised when he put the bag on her shoulder and gestured to an exceptionally battered Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter, that she had been given clearance to go.

Her previous plans to meditate in the forest with the tomes packed in her satchel were long forgotten as she beamed up at Poe.

'You can take R2 with you. That droid's been going a little insane being cooped up inside for so long.'

Rey grinned, pulling Poe into a tight hug.

'Hey, I'm your commanding officer,' Poe said with a chuckle.

'Thank you thank you,' Rey bounced on her feet and she started over to the craft.

'Bring me back a souvenir, yeah?' Poe called to her, and Rey nodded as she set off into a jog.

The ship was old, most likely having been built before the Battle of Yavin, though it still seemed to have some heart in it as somebody had kept it clean and rust-free. Rey's hands glanced across the metal-work, trying to sense something more, but coming up empty. It was small enough for herself and R2 and as she looked at the pack that Poe had given her, she knew she had everything she needed.

'Hey Poe,' Rey called, seeing that the commander was still standing around, looking at her with satisfaction.

He raised his chin and she jogged back to him.

'Tell Finn and the others that I'll be back soon, okay?' she requested.

Poe frowned quite clearly and looked past her, clearly searching out for one of her friends. 'You don't need to leave this minute, do you?' he questioned. 'I'm sure they'd like to see you off.'

Rey shook her head. 'I won't be long, so I don't want to disrupt them.'

'Well I suppose Leia already knows,' his words drifted off as Rey ran back to the starfighter, but his furrowed brow remained, not agreeing with Rey's decision to just go without another word. She had already sought out R2-D2 from across the hanger and was coaxing the droid into joining her.

Poe frowned heavily, but decided not to interfere anymore, mostly because he didn't understand Rey, or Rey's path enough to feel as if he could intervene. And from what Finn had constantly insisted, Rey was more than capable of taking care of herself and had been for years already.

Still, he watched her load the astromech droid into the ship and warm up the engine.

Rey was in the atmosphere within the hour. She had plotted the co-ordinates into the navigation with the help of R2, and was on her way to the ice planet, not thinking of anything but forward, and with the tiniest of regrets in the recesses of her mind.

Her thoughts stretched before her like the stars across her vision and Rey closed her eyes to meditate and consider what her next step could be. Yet meditation seemed to elude her, her mind clouded and Rey wasn't sure what it was. Her thoughts had been clear even if they hadn't been peaceful on Ahlenn, and now that she was away from it, it was like everything was calling out to her in a single moment.

R2 beeped in query to her and she shook her head. 'I'm fine, I'll just sleep for a little. Don't get us lost, yeah?' The droid beeped again and Rey nodded, closing her eyes and letting herself lightly doze.

 **XxX**

'Ilum?' Jojen questioned, his eyes narrowing and glaring into the back of the Supreme Leader's holographic head.

Kylo nodded. 'The Force is telling me there is something there.'

'So you want to send us on an escapade that should be for you?' Jojen countered.

The Supreme Leader turned his head, glaring at Jojen. 'Do you have to be so infuriating?

'Are there any specific orders?' Xhona interrupted before an argument could erupt.

The attention was on her then and Kylo considered her for a moment. 'They are the same as usual. A wide search of the planet, and whatever is left of it.'

'Any ideas on what you think we'll find there?' Kem spoke up.

'No, but the same rules apply. Ilum used to be a key planet for crystal mining. If you find any, then they are all yours.'

There was more interest after those words and Jojen smiled lightly, scratching his stubbled jaw in anticipation. 'Now that's a more attractive offer.'

'We'll report back in two days, Master Ren.' The group looked at Mar, whose hand was on the communications panel, ready to disconnect the call. He did once Kylo nodded sharply and he turned to the rest of the Knights.

'Twelve hours to prep,' Xhona said, getting up from her flight chair.

Mar nodded in agreement, also standing but moving into the back of the cockpit to reach for a fresh cup of caf, knowing they wouldn't be sleeping until they were in hyperspace.

 **XxX**

Ilum was as Rey expected. Derelict and mostly destroyed. Of what could be traversed, it was a barren waste land of ice, without even the basest of species left to live on its crust. The Empire had done its worst to this planet and Rey sighed, feeling the remnants of what had been.

She was glad that Poe had packed her a cloak, as her clothing hadn't been enough to shield her from the cold, so Rey walked with the thick material pulled tightly around her as she sensed out for something. While the planet was devoid of life, Rey could feel its heartbeat, stumbling still, yet not completely having let go of the Force. A Jedi Temple had been here once, so that meant something at least.

The bond, though. That was what she found herself thinking of as she climbed a steep hill that had been carved artificially into the planet. The pressure of the bond was more pronounced here, much like it had felt on D'Qar in the moments before Kylo had appeared before her. Yet this time he did not appear, and so she felt this continuous thrum in her head with great confusion. Even if she wanted to deny or disprove it, it was the bond she felt, and not another part of the Force calling out to her and warming her blood.

 _Stop._

Rey stopped abruptly, turning about her, her hand on the blaster she carried rather than on the staff she knew she should have brought instead.

There was nothing, however. Nothing but the wind freezing her skin and blowing her loose hair about her.

 _Follow the crater._

'Who is that?' Rey called out, spinning again and finding only herself.

Yet she felt compelled to follow the voice's instruction, not knowing herself where she should be going and seeing nothing ahead of her other than expansive destruction.

'Fine,' she mumbled, frowning lightly. Perhaps it was the wind playing a joke on her, but regardless, Rey sensed no other life and so did as she heard, traversing the ridge and hiking its path, keeping herself warm with the constant movement.

The crystal snow crunched loudly beneath her booted feet and a sense of calm descended on her as she went. As the afternoon continued, Rey was able to watch the distant sinking of the blue sun as the planet orbited out of its light.

 _The entrance._

Rey turned again, searching out for what she had heard whispered and her eyes dropped on a small cave entrance half way down the cliff of carved ground. It wouldn't take much to get down there, she noted, having jumped similar distances back scavenging on Jakku. And now she had the Force as her aid.

She crawled to the edge and got a foot hold, arranging herself above the lip of the entrance and she jumped down, infusing the Force into her movements and easily catching herself as she landed, the ground only giving minutely under her slight weight.

Searching her bag for a light source, she suddenly wished she had the glow of a Lightsaber to hand. Eventually her hand tightened around a glowrod and she pulled it out, turning it on. The cavern entrance seemed innocuous enough, so she moved onwards, feeling out again with the Force.

The cave was small and clearly had been man-made, but through the rapid destruction of the planet it had curved in on itself an extraordinary amount. Rey almost tumbled on rubble several times as she walked and could hear the tell-tale straining of the foundations bending in on themselves, with not much fight left in them.

 _The right path_.

Rey sighed, wondering why she was still following the voice, even now when she knew it wasn't the wind tricking her. It was her will alone. She continued regardless, closing her eyes as she walked, preferring to use this moment to train her senses, even though she tripped several times and knocked her elbow into the walls a few times more.

Her fingers grazed the rock as she walked and she breathed out deeply, settling her thoughts further as she took the right-most path, sensing that the cavern was growing wider around her.

She felt the need to stop abruptly and Rey opened her eyes, seeing that she had entered what had once been a small room, illuminated by bioluminescent plants which grew along the fissures in the walls, mostly carved from the changing weight of the earth above.

The room had shelves, some of which had fallen from their fastenings, but shelves all the same. In the centre were the remains of a small hearth and there were two stools beside it.

 _Have a seat_.

Rey laughed, thinking that her following this unknown voice was insane. It could belong to anyone, it could put her in danger, and yet she felt herself trusting it regardless.

She sat, searching the area for a means of lightning the fire. Just when she found a flint, the hearth lit, not beginning as a small spark as it should have, but the fire became warm and whole almost instantaneously. Then as she looked up from the flames, she met the grey eyes of an unfamiliar man.

'It is nice to finally meet you.' He spoke, his head bowed lightly as he met Rey's tentative gaze.

Rey took a breath, thinking she'd heard that voice before. The answer on the tip of her tongue. The older man smiled then, seeming to sense what she was thinking.

'Your vision, on Takodana.' He murmured.

She blinked, seeming to remember instantly and she looked over the man, wondering who he was, wondering why he had called to her to come here.

'You do not speak much, do you?' he said jovially, a smile appearing within the hair of his beard.

'Sorry,' Rey said lowly. 'I'm not quite sure what to say.'

'No worries, I suppose an introduction is good enough.'

If he could hold out a hand and shake hers, Rey was sure he would have done, but instead he stood and bowed lightly. Rey did the same, noting that the robes he wore were not much different from those that Luke had donned.

'I am Rey, though I suppose you already know that.'

The man's smile widened, and he nodded. 'Obi-Wan.'

Rey's nod was curt. 'So, would you be up to offering me an explanation as to why I am here?'

'Well the Force brought you here,' he answered, folding his arms and lifting a leg to rest against his knee. 'Though you know that. Perhaps ask a different question?'

She huffed out, not understanding why the Jedi was speaking in riddles, and then Rey chuckled, considering that perhaps this was a commonality among them all.

'What are you looking for, Rey?' he asked.

Their eyes met and Rey straightened up. She was ready to answer, but her voice was caught and she seemed to lose confidence in her answer. Rey frowned, looking down into the fire. The soles of her boots tracked lines into the ground as she thought. 'I suppose answers,' she finally replied.

Obi-Wan nodded and reached a hand to his beard, tugging on it lightly, waiting for her to continue.

'I have a lot of questions, though if you're anything like Luke, I doubt you'll answer all of them.'

He smiled then. 'I can only try, though don't expect me to be a fountain of all knowledge.'

'You don't already know everything then?' Rey questioned, her voice seeming to shrink.

The Jedi Master's expression settled as he watched the young woman and he took a deep inhalation. 'The Force…doesn't always make sense. Sometimes it never does, and yet it isn't a friend, not in the way that you can request something of it and it will do as you ask.'

Rey's brows drew together as she listened. 'What Snoke did…what he made—'

'No,' Obi-Wan interrupted, shaking his head. 'Snoke saw the possibility of a connection and stimulated it. It was the Force who called for it, and the Force alone that has allowed it to stay intact.'

'But why?' Rey felt her eyes sting at the idea, her thoughts moving towards Ben and feeling him there in the corner of her consciousness like always. 'What possible good could come of it? I tried. I tried _everything_ , and nothing changed.'

Obi-Wan looked into the fire, sighing gently. 'Not even I can know why, not until all has been said and done. But you must see it Rey, that this goes beyond the two of you?'

She felt a disloyal tear slip against her cheek and Rey rubbed at it roughly. 'That our fates are entwined?' she murmured, her chest hurting from just saying the words aloud.

He nodded. 'I can't answer all your questions, not just because some of them I do not know the answer to, but because it is your path. Why I'm here in front of you is not to give you answers, but to give you guidance and reassurance. You know what you must do.'

'But I don't, I don't.' Rey looked up, but Obi-Wan had already gone, taking the fire with him. She looked to her hands, feeling powerless and she sighed, closing her eyes to take several laboured breaths, to sort through the jumble of her mind.

Rey stood, looking about her once more, sensing her surroundings and she stopped, seeing something reflected in the bioluminescence and she made her way to it, kneeling and picking up an amulet of some sort, the Jedi symbol carved into its surface.

'Travelled a million and one light years for an old rusty necklace,' she muttered.

Then in the back of her head she chided herself, being reminded that this place had once held a Jedi Temple and that held value, regardless of whether she could see it on the surface. That link had meant she'd met Obi-Wan and Rey put all her hopes into that, wishing that the conversation, though short, had made a difference even if she couldn't see it yet.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Mar watched the others traverse the roughened landscape of Ilum. Kicking rocks and looking for anything of interest, he sensed their discomfort. They had been to the ice planet before and had found nothing, yet Mar liked being here, he liked that there wasn't a soul, that there wasn't a Force that called out to him.

As they walked, he felt his smile widen beneath his helmet. He could smell something new, he could feel it in his fingertips. He removed his leather gloves and knelt, his fingers sliding across the compacted ice and he felt her presence thrumming in the earth. It hadn't been long, perhaps two days since she had been here, and her Force signature still hummed. The earth was happy, it had been sated with her Light when it had been without for so long.

'Found anything?' Xhona asked, turning over a small boulder with the end of her staff.

It was usually Mar who found the artefacts, so the question came as no surprise. Though the others, including Ben, lived in ignorance, it was common knowledge on Kiffu that its people had a penchant for psychometry and Mar had spent every day since leaving his home on honing it.

'Not yet,' Mar murmured. He followed Rey's signature, however, wondering what she had found, whether she knew of the planet's allegiance before its partial destruction, whether she had sought artefacts or something more.

He needed something whole, however. The rocks and frozen ground could not give him an idea of what she did or what she saw. They only held brief visions of her feet traversing them. He needed something that belonged to her. Even a strand of her hair.

'Look at this,' Jojen shouted and Mar was brought out of his thoughts as he looked over at the red head.

They all went to Jojen and gathered around as he began sifting the dirt with the butt of his gun. Eventually a sheet of metal was revealed, and the man pulled it out, looking suspiciously at the scrap.

'Any ideas?' Yonduun murmured.

Mar took the scrap from his fingers and smiled with amusement, though shook his helmet covered head. 'Probably space junk.' As the others turned away with annoyance, he slipped the metal into his sleeve and continued with his walk.

They began to disperse, though Mar noticed Jojen circle back towards him and he removed his helmet, prompting Mar to do the same.

'I don't believe him, Mar.' Jojen began.

Mar would have to be a fool to misunderstand who Jojen was speaking of.

'About what exactly?' Mar asked, trying to sound bored.

'There's no way that some scavenger girl could have killed Snoke. Not the way he said. Snoke had all those Praetorium guards and Kylo was there too, but somehow she bested them all? How is that possible? When will he stop lying to us?' Jojen whispered angrily.

Mar clucked his tongue. 'Shouldn't you have more faith? Wouldn't it be wise to have more faith?'

'To what end? What have we gained from following him? I thought we were joining some righteous cause, yet here we are, digging around for old space junk.'

The Kiffu smiled, amused. 'A man of action like yourself, you seemed to have all the words back on Atterra Alpha. Why didn't you speak your peace?'

Jojen hesitated and then nodded. 'I think I will when we get back.'

 **XxX**

Rey's hand drifted over the controls, inputting several co-ordinates while she held a tome open with the other. The words were still nonsense, yet she had gotten into the groove of comparing all the books containing the language she did not understand, with the ones she did. While it was problematic and confusing, she could at least derive small details, and utilising the star maps, she could find the planets in the ship's navigation, especially with R2 there to help her.

Alaris Prime.

The name of her next destination that seemed to call to Rey from across the page. The star system had looked familiar and this was of no surprise when the ship's data files told her that it was within the Kashyyyk system.

It had homed an academy, but Rey had no idea what she would find there now. Yet Obi-Wan had seemed to imply that she should continue on the current path she was on, and Rey was eager to know more, to find something that would help her build her own Lightsaber.

She'd left the crystal by her cot, feeling anxious about carrying it around with her, as if its connection to Ben made it a dangerous means of connecting them again. Or perhaps, that it was just a reminder of him.

Her mind throbbed and Rey blamed herself for not bringing a warmer cloak, though even once she had warmed up and eaten something, she still felt her head pulsate as if she were thinking too deeply and it was under too much pressure.

Sighing aloud, eliciting the attention of R2, she dug into her satchel, searching for the amulet she had found on Ilum, rubbing away dirt with her thumb and looking it over. It was quite old and there wasn't anything spectacular about it. All the same, she searched through her bag, finding a sandwich that had been wrapped in wax paper and string. She removed the string and made a knot around the amulet before tying it to her neck and tucking it in.

Rey returned to her reading, wondering whether this would be her final stop or the Force would lead her further.

R2 jittered and she turned with a nod and a smile. 'Yep, Alaris Prime, as soon as you can.'

 **XxX**

Yonduun and Jojen were leading the group through the shallow snow, grumbling to each other about the cold while Kem trailed after them.

Mar closed his eyes as he walked, using the Force alone to guide him as he walked beside Xhona. She wasn't wearing her mask like everyone else was. It wasn't often that the Mirialan handed over the leading of the group to someone else, let alone Jojen, and Mar briefly turned to her, wondering what she was thinking. Even if the group had mostly stopped utilising the Force for anything other than combat, Xhona was fully capable of spotting and stopping an intrusion into her mind.

'What are you thinking?' Mar asked.

He stepped over a crevice, his mind trailing slightly behind him. They had maintained a route adjacent to the one Rey had taken and Mar felt strangely like there had been someone else with her.

Xhona huffed and she glanced at Mar, her eyes narrowed. 'I'm just tired of this planet.'

Mar smiled, despite knowing that Xhona couldn't see or perhaps even sense the expression. 'You seemed to enjoy it enough last time.'

'Because I was able to kick the shit out of Kem unbidden?' she supposed. Xhona breathed out loudly and shook her head. 'I don't know what it is, I've been feeling uncomfortable for a while now.'

He rubbed his lips together, his brow furrowing. If he reached out to touch her hand, he would have known, yet regardless of Mar's intentions, he always tried to be fair when it came to the people around him. He would not read her. 'Is it the Force?' he questioned, keeping his tone level.

Xhona shrugged and she frowned. 'I…I don't know.' There was frustration laced there and it didn't surprise Mar.

Leaving Luke's temple when they weren't anything more than amateur Force-users, meant they had left with so many half-answered questions. Mar had always thought Xhona had taken it the worst because she had excelled in Force training and their leaving the temple had stunted her growth. She was left struggling in shallow sensation and nothing more.

'You can ask him now,' Mar began, diverting Xhona's gaze back to him. 'Now that Snoke's gone, ask Kylo to teach you.'

'He will say no.'

Mar shook his head. 'Perhaps not. Perhaps it is time for us now.'

Xhona's face seemed to relax, though she looked at him as if to ask a further question. Mar looked away swiftly, not wanting to see her eyes any longer. She had a penchant for accidental compulsion and Mar was often too fond of Xhona to notice.

'Wait!' Jojen shouted from up ahead, and they all abruptly stopped.

They had reached a cliff where the earth had been carved most unnaturally. Mar moved ahead, pushing Kem to the side briefly, and sensing his trepidation almost immediately. As he peered over the edge, there was a loud howling as the wind caught in the man-made valley. Its true depth couldn't be seen, though Mar knew that only death was at its floor.

There was some space for a person to walk down, and Mar sensed almost immediately that this is where Rey had come to, even if it had been several hundred metres west of this spot.

'What do you want us to do?' Yonduun asked Xhona.

The woman stepped forward and frowned briefly. 'Kem, you are the slightest, follow the path and we will follow the ridge.'

Kem nodded and took the end of rope that Mar had already unravelled from his pack. The Pantoran tied it around his waist and then began his descent while they walked the width of the broken crust, pulling the rope along the top.

'Do you think he'll find anything?' Jojen questioned, rather more interested than he had been earlier.

Xhona shrugged and chose this moment to pull on her helmet again. 'Perhaps this will just be an opportunity to get rid of Kem.'

'I heard that!' Kem's voice echoed and Yonduun frowned heavily, clearly not enjoying the eerie sound.

Mar rolled his eyes, attaching the rope to his belt once Kem had reached the limit of its length. He walked closer to the edge, glancing over at Kem carefully edging against the cliff wall.

He felt the thrum in the ground then as they walked the cliff's edge. Mar was experienced enough to know the familiar echo that seemed to breach the atmosphere when a crystal was nearby. His psychometry abilities only enhanced it and he was generally surprised, considering Rey had passed here and not felt it too.

Kem stopped then and the rope pulled.

'What have you found?' Xhona said through her comm link.

The scratchy voice of Kem came through. 'There's a little doorway. Do you want to send a probe droid in?'

Xhona nodded and Jojen set to pulling his pack off his shoulder, removing the miniature droid from it and programming it.

Mar turned about him, trying to pinpoint where the crystal likely was located and he saw a fissure in the ground behind him. The snow had melted there. The crystal certainly had wanted to be found, whether by them or Rey it was unclear.

The probe droid drifted quickly through the air, dropping down to Kem and then whizzing through the doorway. They watched on the feedback pad on Jojen's arm as the droid lit up a dark passage, exploring the different entryways. Eventually it found a small room, and the droid examined its contents. It noted that there had been a fire there, and it found an empty water canteen.

'Someone has been here?' Yonduun questioned, clearly confused.

'Who would come here? There's nothing but ice and rock,' Xhona muttered to herself.

Mar kept quiet, itching to move towards the crystal.

'Anything else inside?' he asked.

The droid responded negatively and when it eventually zipped out from the tunnel, it carried the small canteen in its small metal arms.

The canteen was dropped into Xhona's hands and she looked over it carefully. Mar watched her, his eyes narrowed. The temptation to slip into her mind again was overwhelming, so he took several steps back.

'I feel something,' Jojen said suddenly.

'What?' Yonduun asked, taking the rope that Mar had held out to him.

Xhona looked up from the canteen, her brow raised. She was silent for a moment and she nodded. 'I agree. There is something here.'

Mar frowned, though helped Yonduun pull Kem up from the cliff face. In his peripherals he could see Xhona and Jojen move closer to where the crystal was located, and he almost dropped the rope, which likely would have caused Yonduun to careen off the side of the cliff and take Kem with him.

'You okay?' Yonduun said through his exertion.

Mar muttered and continued to pull. It was easier when he found the crystals and gave them directly to Kylo. The others finding a crystal was a problematic variable, especially after Kylo's promises.

Kem pulled himself the remaining way over the top and began to rub his gloved hands together, trying to get the sensation back from the journey over the cliff.

'What are they doing?' he asked.

Mar was already looking after them. The two had stopped about fifty metres away and were moving the snow with their hands. He eventually approached, followed by Kem and Yonduun.

'Do you think it is?' Jojen huffed, quickening the scooping motion.

Xhona nodded and they continued.

The Kiffar watched over them in silence and he looked down to see the canteen that the probe droid had pulled from the small tunnel room. It lay discarded by Xhona's feet and he withheld an annoyed grunt.

He casually removed his gloves, pushing them into the pockets of his trousers and he reached toward it. As he expected, it still thrummed with her signature and he lifted it easily, his eyes closing as the images descended over him.

The Resistance, or what remained of them, holed up in a tunnel of some sort. A forest was there, but it was unclear where exactly this could be, though it hardly mattered. He saw snippets of conversations with members of the Resistance. The ship she had flown – it was one of few. He sensed that the tether tying her to these people was loose. She was looking for something, something more than just a crystal, and yet she didn't know what.

Mar stumbled then, unable to hold his gasp as the canteen dropped from his fingers.

Only Yonduun noticed and he looked towards Mar with confusion, not seeing the canteen that had dug itself a cavern in the snow.

The name was on his lips, though he resisted saying the words out loud.

 _Obi-Wan Kenobi ._

She had met with a Force ghost and the realisation unsettled Mar. In the last image it had almost felt like he was being watched by the man himself.

'Kriff yes!' Jojen shouted, and he then stood, jumping excitedly.

'What is it?' Kem asked, peering over their shoulders.

Xhona quickly pulled her helmet off and tossed it beside her, before she reached her hand into the hole. When she pulled back, there was a small metal contraption in her hands.

'A torch?' Yonduun asked.

'A Lightsaber,' Mar murmured, stepping forward. 'Archaic and probably not functioning, but the mechanics are there.'

Xhona nodded in agreement and she was smiling, looking up at Mar.

'Best not flick the switch then, it could blow up,' Jojen said, excitement lacing his words.

Mar casually nodded, and he took a breath, frowning.

'Perhaps this was what Kylo had meant. He sensed the Lightsaber,' Kem suggested.

'Potentially.' Mar decided to say, already turning and aiming his sights on their ship. He had found Rey's trail, there was no other need to stay on the planet any longer. Kylo would be frustrated enough that the others had actually found a crystal.

Xhona stood and lifted the canteen and her helmet from the ground. She held the helmet under her arm while she appraised the canteen for a while longer. It was clear to Mar that she was trying to get a read on it, but even if she could use psychometry, she was severely out of practice.

'Let's go back.'

The others nodded in agreement and Mar did not miss the perked atmosphere around them. He doubted that a few crystals would benefit them all at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Rey almost fell from her position laid out in the cockpit of the starfighter, her legs up on the dash and the seat pushed back as far as it could go, which wasn't much. It wasn't comfortable, but Rey had managed to fall asleep for an hour or two, so when R2 decided to loudly chatter into her comm helmet, she was lucky enough to be too cramped to actually fall out of the pilot's chair.

'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' She groaned, trying to slow her heartbeat from the fright.

Groggily she took in her surroundings. They'd dropped out of hyperspace and stood just out of bounds of the gas-planet Alaris' atmosphere. The on-screen navigation pointed out which of the eight moons was Alaris Prime, and she rubbed her eyes, impressed by the sheer depth of green across the planet's surface.

R2 chirped again and Rey chuckled. 'Yeah, definitely not a desert. Are we good to land?'

The droid beeped and plotted in a landing spot that he'd clearly used before. Then began to complain about the numerous problems with the battered ship, telling Rey that she absolutely must not land in a waterlogged area, or they'd never leave.

'Were you always this talkative when it was you and Luke or do you just miss 3PO?' Rey murmured, straightening up in her seat and taking the ship off auto-pilot.

R2 was insulted and berated her for that, but Rey merely laughed and followed the droid's navigation suggestions, easing the ship to touch down.

The landing location was less than ideal for the ship's well-being, though Rey was able to drop not too far from where the Jedi Temple had been listed as being. She would have been surprised if it hadn't been destroyed already, whether that was by the Empire, or by someone else.

What Rey was impressed by the most, however, were the wroshyr trees. On entering the atmosphere, she had thought that perhaps they had happened upon a mountain range, considering the sheer altitude that some of the vegetation lived at, and as they manouvered through the thick forest towards the floor, Rey quickly realised that the trees were merely gargantuan, stretching miles from the forest floor.

As they descended, Rey's eyes scanned over the information regarding the moon; that it was similar to Kashyyyk in its flora and fauna. Rey knew that the Wookiee on Kashyyyk lived in the wroshyr trees, building whole cities within the gargantuan bark, but she had still not expected such size, merely thinking that Chewbacca had been exaggerating the few times he had spoken of his home.

Despite the huge expanse of tree, branch and canopy, Rey put the ship down at the roots of the great trees, allowing for slightly more coverage in case there were people living in the trees above them.

Rey took up her satchel, making sure she had her blaster to hand and she climbed from the starfighter, catching her bearings and looking down at one of the tomes containing maps of the Jedi Temples.

The Temple of Alaris Prime was a ruin according to the data she could collate from the Resistance archives. It had been forgotten long before even General Organa had been born and had been rediscovered some time before the Clone Wars. Rey wondered, as she climbed the roots of the great trees, whether the temple had been found or forgotten once more.

Rey turned about after fifteen minutes, amused that she could still see the ship despite being drenched in sweat and needing respite already. She took a long drink from her canteen and continued her surveyance of the land around her.

This time the tug did not come with a voice, but the hair on her arms raised across her flesh and she grinned as she felt compelled to climb further to the right. It wasn't long before she reached a wroshyr tree that was of a different variety than the others around her. Whilst the ones behind her were a deep green, as dark as the portions she squirreled away on Jakku, this was a warm brown, burgundy, not far off the colour of Corellian Whiskey. It seemed much older too. The branches, though long and thick, curved inwards and the tree seemed as if it was reaching its final ten-thousand years.

Her fingers glanced across the bark, warm as she felt the tree hum with life. There was no true indication that the tree homed the temple, yet she felt that it did. The Force had yet to lead her astray, so Rey set to climbing, pushing her satchel behind her and grabbing a foothold into the wrinkled wood.

It was an easy climb. Easier than climbing the durasteel of old ships, even with the added humidity dampening her hands. Realising that she was making slow progress, Rey called for help from the Force to get her moving more swiftly, and she was able to make it to on one of the lowest branches of the tree, swinging her legs over to straddle it.

Taking some time to catch her bearings, her eyes followed the routes of the other branches – where they led and merged with the other trees, or where they linked back to the reddish trunk.

Just before she was ready to set off again, she glanced at a small wedge notched into the trunk and her fingers drifted over it, feeling the smoothness of metal and the giving weight of a button.

The bark slid away from the tree and Rey grinned as she stepped inside, the light of the sun still drifting through the scarred wood of the wroshyr tree. There were corridors inside without any indication on where they led, and Rey hesitated for only a moment in choosing her direction.

As she walked, it felt as if she had been here before. Like she was retracing old steps and while it frightened her, it was thrilling. The Force was telling her something and she merely had to wait and listen.

Wooden walls soon grew narrower and they sloped, clearly descending back down to the ground, before she saw much more light beyond a small turn. It was behind a curtain of vines that she found it then.

The Temple, in all its ruination, sat in a small alcove of massive wroshyr trees. Their roots were too big to have climbed without a lot of equipment, and even then, nobody would have looked here unless they had fallen from the sky, through the canopy and into this exact spot.

Rey was thankful that the ruins seemed to be due to decay rather than destruction. The trees had been left to set their roots through many of the stone walls, crippling the weaker material and leaving rubble in its wake.

Deciding to look first and question herself later, Rey immediately removed her glowrod from her satchel and trudged forward, exploring what remained of the temple.

The remains of artwork painted directly onto the rock depicting students meditating or during trials covered several walls, while there were broken book cases and cupboards along another. Of the rooms that had been caved in by tree roots, there were scraps of cloth and perhaps earthen cooking ware.

It was the same tugging that caused Rey to turn back to a singular room. It seemed to have been a dorm room, as cots hewn from stone were lifted from the walls and what had most likely been bedding remained in scraps on the floor. There were twelve stone beds in total and as she moved towards the further most cot, her heart rate sped up.

Briefly looking around and then kneeling down, Rey's fingers caught on the edge of a trap door as she felt beneath the cot and with some effort and help from the Force, she managed to pull the lid free. Her hand sifted through the contents of it, not prepared to look underneath the cot out of fear alone, and she raised an eyebrow when it came upon leather. It took several tugs to remove it from underneath the bed and Rey looked down at what was a leather bag, quizzically.

It did not have a fastening, only a flap, so she opened it and sifted through the contents. The first item was a small fountain pen, then a notebook with pages mostly eaten by time and finally a small polyhedric item, the size of her hand and a deep magenta.

'Now what is this?' she murmured as R2 began to beep loudly through her comms.

 **XxX**

'Synthetic,' Kylo murmured, breaking the lightsaber open to reveal the crystals inside. 'Artificial.'

'What difference does that make? They are still usable crystals,' Jojen responded sharply.

Kylo looked up at the man, annoyance pulling his mouth into a grimace. 'Anointed and artificial crystals. You have no idea what to do with these.'

Jojen bristled and looked to Xhona beside him.

'Fair is fair,' she murmured. 'We found the lightsaber.'

The Supreme Leader looked over them briefly and his eyes met Mar's. The Kiffar looked to the ground and Kylo's grimace deepened. 'No.'

'I knew you would lie about this too.' Jojen's voice was elevated and his eyes filled with fury.

Kylo leant forward on the throne, looking the man down. 'You're more than welcome to try again, Jojen.'

'You are different, Kylo,' Jojen said simply, appraising the older Force-user.

'Practicing your foresight, are you?' Ben answered, beyond irritated with the man now. 'Perhaps your memory of the past has now failed you, as you seem to have conveniently forgotten who the more powerful Force-user in this room is.'

Jojen laughed and Ben felt his cheeks heat with anger. 'To me you will always be the fool who could be taken down with a single punch, Kylo Ren. Regardless of whether you change your name, without Snoke you are nothing. He made you, so now you are a puppet with no master.'

'Jojen, would you stop?' Xhona requested, clearly annoyed.

He shook his head. 'Is he not exceptionally suspicious to you? Do you really believe that some girl, who has known the Force for less time than it takes a Bantha to fertilise a whole field with its shit, managed to best Snoke? You've felt his power, you saw what he did to Julius in the blink of an eye, yet you think that _he_ didn't have something to do with Snoke's untimely demise?'

Ben had a hand against his Lightsaber, trying to contain his emotions as he watched the man begin to pace the space before him.

'Why do we continue to listen to him? We find three artificial Kyber crystals on Yavin 4 and he gets them all to use on that blade? Where is the righteousness in that? We killed for him, because of his words, because he told us that his own uncle had tried to kill him, and yet it feels the same, the same as it felt back then: That these are half-truths and it's the Force, I know it, telling us we mustn't trust this snake.'

Mar cleared his throat then and they all turned in time to see his eyeroll. 'Perhaps you should have held back on the whiskey on the way here, Jojen.' He loosened the flail in his hand and gripped Jojen's shoulder. The man was clearly in pain as Mar squeezed it tightly.

There was fire in Ben's eyes and the room was silent for a moment, wondering whether he would remove his Lightsaber and strike Jojen down. He had done it before, not with one of them, but before all the same.

Though Jojen shook his head and pushed at Mar, knocking his flail from his hand and pulling his own vibro-sword from his waist. Mar backed up, his hands up, though his expression was one of annoyance rather than reluctance as Jojen held the sword towards Ben.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Ben questioned, speaking through his teeth.

Jojen choked out a laugh then, holding the sword truer. 'Do you not see it?' he asked the others. 'Can you not see the conflict in his eyes? It is so much clearer now than it was before and yet he stands here and tells us lies.' The man glanced between the Knights, frustrated. 'Or do you all use the Force for nothing? Do you remember nothing you learned in the temple?' He laughed again, his eyes trained again on Ben who stood solidly still. 'Perhaps that's why he kept us so far from Snoke, so far from anything Force-related, so that we would forget and he could continue to manipulate us as we lost our connection. Though I haven't forgotten anything.'

Ben's hand rested gripped the hilt of his Lightsaber then and Jojen pointed at his actions.

'Are you going to continue to go against me?' Ben asked him. 'Do you wish to find out what the conclusion of your words will be?'

'You're the one who has gone against us,' he said, narrowing his eyes at Ben. 'We sacrificed everything for you.' The man said, his voice tinged with betrayal even though he spoke with resolution.

Ben smirked and glanced around at the others. 'You made a choice, the correct choice. Luke could offer you nothing you wanted or needed.'

Jojen's arm fell then and he shook his head. 'I wanted family. You have only given me spilled blood.'

'Then what will it be?' Kylo asked.

Mar watched as Yonduun and Kem automatically looked at their leader and Xhona merely looked resolutely at the ground. He had expected that. It had been the same thing she had done at the temple. When the others had begged, she had simply looked away, sold on the dream that Ben Solo had painted for her, and devotedly followed when Ben Solo became Kylo Ren.

Kylo glanced at Mar then and the Kiffar reeled in his frustration, directing it to the situation at hand.

'Would you fight me?' Ben asked, seeking clarification.

Jojen's lip quivered. 'No,' he answered. 'I would kill you.'

It was Xhona who moved to cross Jojen's path first. Mar could not reel in his shock and he noticed that neither could Kylo. The sword was pulled from Jojen's chest before either could move, and Xhona cleaned the blood from the weapon with her arm bindings before slotting it back into its sheath.

Jojen crumpled onto his knees, betrayal clear as he looked to Xhona and then he fell forward, his blood spilling onto the floor and gently drifting towards Mar and Kylo.

Kylo stuttered his first few words and Mar hesitated. Kem and Yonduun were frozen in shock, while the inexplicable sensation of passivity rolled off Xhona in waves. Mar was under the impression that Kylo was too distracted by Jojen's last breaths to notice, but Mar did, and for the first time in what felt like a decade, he was frightened. The Mirialan's face had not changed when she had struck Jojen and it looked almost premeditated.

'Why would you kill him?' Yonduun choked out.

'Would you like to be next?' she questioned.

There was silence again and Mar turned to look directly at the Supreme Leader. His face had gone pale and he was staring at Xhona.

'Leave,' he murmured.

Xhona nodded and walked towards the exit, pulling Yonduun and Kem with her. Jojen's blood still spread across the floor and Mar closed his eyes, his chest constricting for the man. Though Kylo had given the death blow back then, it had not been the same with Julius. They had been together for such a short amount of time then, but now…now there was a decade between them all.

Mar stepped forward, reaching for Jojen's shoulder.

 _This was not your path_.

The blood reached Mar's knees then and he sighed. He reached further into the pool of blood and turned Jojen into his lap. He was gone already and Mar felt an emptiness descend over him as his hands drifted over the man's lifeless body.

It had been years since he'd last done this. Not even when Julius had died, had Mar reached for him. While wielding psychometry on objects was second nature, using it on the dead was uncommonly done on Mar's home plant of Kiffu. Yet with Jojen it seemed necessary. This almost felt like the final rite of his passing and at any other time, perhaps the others – Ben more specifically – would have looked at Mar strangely to see him cradle this man's head in his lap as he died. Mar closed his eyes, letting Jojen's memories wash over him. It was only right. Mar had known the man too long to leave him to go cold on the durasteel floor. He'd been with him everyday for years.

The trepidation that Mar had sensed in Jojen had been present for longer than he had expected. Ever since Snoke had turned them away from training, Jojen had doubted the intentions of the previous Supreme Leader, no differently than Mar himself had. While their loyalties had lain with Kylo, Snoke still held dominion over them, much to both of their frustration.

Mar's hand fisted into the dead Knight's jacket as the memory of his wishes flitted behind his eyes. Family. Brought to Luke as an orphan, he hadn't known what it meant. He wanted a family and he thought that could be the seven of them: Kylo, Xhona, Julius, Mar, Kem, Yonduun and him. It had fallen apart and Mar sighed.

'He's gone?' Kylo asked.

The Kiffar nodded and his fingers drifted up to shut Jojen's eyes.

'Why would she…without orders?' He muttered.

'Yet you wanted this.'

Kylo shook his head, seemingly torn.

'When you decided to keep things from them, you allowed this. Xhona has…' Mar didn't want to say it, but he felt it. He'd felt it ever since the awakening. Ever since Kylo had mentioned the girl. 'She has chosen her side, and that is yours.'

Mar stood and turned to meet Kylo. 'He would have killed me?'

'I doubt it.'

'Then why would she?'

'Teach her. Perhaps then she would not be so rash. If they knew of the Force again, perhaps things would be different,' Mar said, his voice flat. It was not what he needed of them, yet he was wary to leave them defenceless.

Xhona had become irregular. She made Mar hesitate and he knew to be wary of his own weaknesses.

Kylo seemed to consider Mar's words and he nodded, not accepting the request, but telling Mar that he would think about it.

Mar bowed his head slightly and made his way out of the chamber, deciding not to look back at Jojen. Perhaps the man was free now.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! You are welcome to review if you like ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Rey touched her cheek and pulled away to see moisture on the tips of her fingers. Her throat ached as if she had been crying and screaming for hours and the strength in her legs had dissipated to nothing.

'Ben.' His name left her lips before she had even thought it and then he was there before her, turned away, just his dark silhouette framing her thoughts.

'Am I unwanted?' she heard him say.

'No…no…that wasn't it. That isn't it.' Rey found herself responding.

She wanted to see his face, to know that he was still whole.

'Then why do I feel missing?' he asked.

He turned then and Rey was screaming again as she saw that his face was split, torn where she had scarred him, the skin pulling away from his face, exposing the muscle and bone beneath.

Then she was awake, her face pressed stiffly into a pile of leaves, her arms and legs a tangle and her breathing shallow.

The location frightened her and she stumbled up, slipping on the dew-covered foliage and searching for her bearings. Why was she in the forest? Why did her heart pain her so much? As if it had endured some great ordeal and barely made it out the other side.

She felt the dryness of tears then, real and shed against her cheeks. She had cried. She had been crying in her sleep. Or whatever it was that had brought her out here, to freeze in the cold night.

'Rey? Rey are you out here?' Her head snapped towards the shouting, frowning as she recognised Finn's voice.

He eventually stumbled through the trees, sweat tracking across his temples as he stopped, breathing out with relief.

'I thought you'd left already.'

Rey shook her head, looking at the floor around her for clues and she reached to her throat, catching the old Jedi pendant in her fingers. 'I think I slept walk,' she murmured, barely believing herself. 'Are the council reconvening after the report last night?' she questioned.

The rush from Alaris Prime back to Ahlenn had left Rey drained and she'd pulled herself together enough to attend the briefing that had been so urgently called. The First Order were building their army back up already. Holdo's sacrifice and the battle on Crait had crippled the army for mere weeks and Hux was setting out his tendrils across the galaxy yet again.

'Yeah,' Finn said with a curt nod. 'You look terrible, though. Maybe you should rest?'

She gestured in the negative again and uncomfortably followed Finn, looking back at the unfamiliar place where she had slept.

It was only once they had reached the clearing that Rey realised she was still shaking, the dream having deeply unsettled her. The idea of her having no control over her own body as she slept worried Rey and the thought that somebody – her thoughts mostly bounding towards Ben – could take advantage of that lack of control, frightened her immensely. She slept with her weapon beside her for a reason, but her sleeping-self sabotaging her safety was wholly problematic.

'Here, I got you some breakfast.' Finn sifted through his deep pockets as they fell into step beside each other. He smiled wryly as he passed her a roll of bread wrapped in wax paper.

Rey grinned her thanks and bit into it, savouring the slightly sweet taste on her tongue.

Rather than having another briefing in Leia's ready-room, which had been stuffed with Resistance personnel the night before, Leia had her audience in the hanger bay, the General standing slightly raised so that all could see the small woman as she spoke to everyone.

'For those who were not at the briefing yesterday, Captain Wexley and the remaining blue and black squadrons returned from their mission, though they also brought tidings with them. The First Order has begun rebuilding their army again. While this does not say much regarding their current resources or numbers, particularly whether they have repaired their lead ship, it does tell us that we must now move even swifter than before.'

There were several grumblings of suggestion, though thankfully, few were truly worried about their place on Ahlenn.

'What we need to focus our efforts on, apart from rebuilding our own resources, is keeping a grip on our First Order intel. Some of our spies have fallen through, but there are always cracks within powers such as the First Order. We will be sending small squadrons on covert runs for not only intel, but for man-power, support and resources.'

Leia's eyes dropped to several junior members and officers of the Resistance, particularly those who had little field experience, who were not pilots or bombers, who would not be recognised, and at the very least, knew how to defend themselves.

'Lieutenant Connix has new allocations for everyone and will be explaining our new priorities in squadron and rank order.' There was a pause and Leia met Rey's eyes. 'Commander Dameron and Rey, if I could speak with you both.'

Rey gave a curt nod and the two of them were gently led aside as Connix began relaying information to groupings of people.

'Moreso than anyone here Rey, you are able to gather more information than us as a result of your current travel plans and your acuity with the Force. Due to that fact, I'd formally like to ask you to become a key part of the Resistance in the capacity of a covert agent.'

Poe had his arms across his chest, his brow arched seriously. Rey couldn't help glancing at the man who had very much become Leia's right-hand in the less than two months since they'd suffered such a great loss during the journey from D'Qar to Crait.

'I can do that,' Rey nodded.

'We were thinking in particular, any intel on possible weaknesses in the First Order's leadership. Kylo Ren's grip on the First Order may not be as strong as Snoke's, and with the position falling to him rather than to Hux, there is a suggestion that some bad blood may be between them.'

Rey wished she had some insight into Poe's words, but she knew very little about General Hux – she didn't even know what he looked like – and perhaps she didn't even really know Kylo at all.

Kylo Ren was a mystery and he had killed Ben Solo to rise to the position of Supreme Leader. While the thought made her chest ache insurmountably, it was perhaps healthier to think that way than the alternative.

'Where do you think this information would come from most readily?' Rey asked carefully, looking to Leia and wondering whether she had disclosed their conversation to Poe. Perhaps she hadn't, and that was the reason Poe did not look at her differently, did not question her affiliation or even her connection to Kylo Ren.

Poe removed a datapad from his inner-jacket and handed it to Rey. 'We have a list of the key high-level planets that the First Order work through, particularly those with high-level command on them. There are likely to be titters even on the street level if things are unbalanced in the highest echelons of leadership.'

'This doesn't mean going where the danger is,' Leia pointed out, eyeing Poe carefully. 'Surrounding planets or speaking with those who have recently departed these planets may be of assistance to us. No amount of information is irrelevant.'

Rey nodded, tucking the datapad into her belt and smiling. 'So I'm not to be your enforcer?'

Poe grinned. 'If only.'

Leia nudged him with the top end of her walking stick and smiled warmly at Rey. 'Please be careful out there Rey.'

'Show the Force who's boss,' Poe added.

Rey chuckled. 'I don't think that's how it works,' she remarked. Though she still nodded her head to the two of them and left to seek out Chewbacca and pack her bag for her travels again. This time to Dentaal, a planet devoid of humanoid life that R2 had eagerly suggested as they had raced back to Ahlenn.

 **XxX**

Ben awoke sharply, his chambers still shrouded in darkness. He hadn't had a full cycle of sleep and he could feel that in the ache in his body that usually settled while he slept.

He'd seen Rey.

Nothing much more than a wisp of her, but he had felt that she had crossed his path. Even as he sat in his bed, his bare back against the cold headboard, he struggled to recall exactly what he had seen. It was mostly colours, darkness and light, brief and flickering sound. Though she had been there; that being the only surety in the confusion of his senses.

He looked down at his sheets, closing his eyes in frustration. It would have been better if he had never seen her at all. Now the idea of it would keep him up.

'Lights,' he murmured. The room's sensors followed his instruction, gradually brightening the room as if simulating a sunrise, allowing Ben's eyes to ease into the light.

Moving from his cot and towards the refresher, he caught his gaunt face in the mirror. The lack of sleep was evident from the deepening shadows beneath his eyes, only having worsened since Crait. The bruising on his skin had healed, yet it was as if Ben could still see the memory of it as he looked over himself. His scar pulsated and even as he touched it gently, closing his eyes, he was set with the memory of Rey standing before him in the elevator, close enough to touch the newly repaired wound. Feeling that she had wanted to.

Ben took a heavy breath, closing his eyes to distract himself from the memory that was still bitter, that still made his chest ache.

Stripping himself of his loose sleeping tunic, Ben hesitated before climbing into the small cubicle barely big enough for his bulk and pulled the lever for the shower, bracing himself for the brief jet of cold water before the temperature rose, escalating to the point of almost scalding.

He winced as the water hit his skin, feeling it redden almost immediately, but serving as enough of a distraction from thoughts of Rey.

Ben switched the water off once he'd gotten used to the heat and reached for a towel, drying his limbs quickly and then rubbing his wet hair rigorously. A droid had already laid out several items of clothing, programmed to do so once it heard the shower was running.

The Supreme Leader hastily got dressed, his hair still partially wet, before he left his quarters, seeking out his ready-room. Unfortunately, the empty halls of the Atterra Alpha base allowed his mind to its own machinations and soon enough, the bond made itself known, whispering softly in his ear, coaxing him to provide it with attention.

It would have been simple, Ben thought, to let his hold on it go. Rey's own grasp on it could have grown lax over the last month, it could have been easy to let it fall away and him to see her once more. It only had to be once, and he could be sated. Then he could be rid of her, then he could finally take his destiny into his own hands. Take her life with his own hands. Unlike the times before when he had pleaded with her, not wanting to hurt her, wanting them to be together in all meanings of the word.

His hand hesitated on his Lightsaber, suddenly aware that his thoughts were yet again diverging on her, hating that he was so weak and she made him this way.

Perhaps if he really did kill her, everything would be better, and he ignored the possibility that she could still be convinced if he tried again. Either with him or death; that was his ultimatum.

'Your Excellency?' An officer stopped in front of him, looking frightened, most likely because it was unusual for the Supreme Leader to be walking around the base at this time.

Kylo nodded his head weakly. 'Has there been any word on General Hux, Captain?'

The young man hesitated before responding, seemingly bracing himself for the Supreme Leader's well-known wrath. 'Evening reports have him at Riosa, though he only just arrived several hours ago.'

'Only just?' Kylo echoed. He'd sent the man to Riosa three days ago and he'd only just arrived?

Without prompting, the captain removed his datapad and brought up the navigational charts of the fleet Hux had taken with him. It was made up of an _Executor-_ class Star Dreadnought and two _Resurgent-_ class Star Destroyers. Kylo had sanctioned a single destroyer and the captain was clearly aware of this, as he trembled while holding out the datapad.

Kylo's gloved fingers sifted through the navigational information once he had swiped the pad from the captain's loose grip. Hux had begun the recruitment drives on his way to Riosa, stopping off at Trandosha, Raxus and Taanab before going to his ordered destination.

'Have the report sent to my ready room. Set up a hologram link with General Hux too.' His words were clipped and he restrained his anger. It was useless to throw the captain in front of him through a wall, as his request would not be followed.

'Yes, your excellency.'

The man skittered away and Kylo felt the datapad give under his fierce grip. When he looked to his other hand, he realised that he was tightly clutching the hilt of his Lightsaber, so it was no wonder that the captain had departed so speedily.

General Hux's hologram was waiting for Kylo in his ready room and the man wore a smug expression with his arms knotted across his chest.

'I do not remember ordering you to go anywhere else other than Riosa, Hux.' Kylo said with grating irritation.

'I thought it best to escort Lieutenant Yax to Raxus, Supreme Leader. Trandosha and Taanab just happened to be there on the way.'

Kylo closed his eyes momentarily, breathing though his nose.

'You'll be glad to know that the recruitment drives are going well, Supreme Leader. We have already recruited fifty-thousand and they are being prepped for arrival at Atterra Alpha imminently.' The general had a twisted smile on his face and Kylo wanted to reach through the hologram and strangle him.

'Insubordination has consequences, Hux. You should keep that in mind.'

The general nodded, maintaining the poisonous force that polluted his expression. 'Understood, your excellency. Though you should also keep the words "strike while the iron is hot" in mind. Without the republic or the rebels, the galaxy is ours for the taking.'

Kylo slammed his hand on the disconnect button without another word, and rather than remove his weapon, pulled his arm across the objects on the desk at the end of the room, sweeping everything against the wall and floor with a crash.

He continued to kick things over until what felt like ice water was trickling down his spine and he turned, thinking that perhaps it was the bond, catching him unawares. There was no one – no Rey there to watch him rage against his furniture – and he took several laboured breaths before straightening.

 **XxX**

Mar's attention snapped towards Yonduun as he entered their small sleeping chambers aboard the Knights' ship. Though his eyes had been closed as if in sleep, Mar had very much been meditating, this spurred on by the trembles of unbalance that sifted through the air around him – that he'd felt since Jojen had died.

It had been Mar's every intention to see Jojen confront Kylo, but his methods, his words, and the tragic conclusion had been unexpected.

He could taste their uncertainty like acid rain, dripping off Yonduun and Kem in rivulets, poisoning everything it touched. The hole that Jojen's absence had left was deep and clear. Yonduun and Kem had followed Jojen more so than Mar or Xhona, and though the pair appeared the same, the glue that held the group together was seemingly rotting away.

Yonduun pulled a belt of concussion grenades from a hidden slot in the wall as Mar watched him with one eye. He sighed as he checked the explosives and then looked at Mar.

'Did he tell you?' The Iktotchi began. 'What he had been thinking? About Kylo? About everything?'

Mar shook his head, suddenly regretting his lies for the first time. Jojen's blood was still crusted on the clothes he had worn and despite several days having passed, Mar could not bring himself to wash them just yet.

'Kylo once said that we can only trust ourselves and I considered that when he had said it, he hadn't meant it. That he could trust us and we could trust him unequivocally, but maybe the passage of time…has made it all irrelevant.' Yonduun frowned heavily and then squared his shoulders. 'We will be landing on Vardos in ten minutes. Fights have broken out along the border of Kestro.'

The Kiffar nodded and sat up on his bunk, rubbing his hands together as Yonduun left the small room. The words he had wanted to say were on his tongue and he frowned, looking down at his hands. _You can't even always trust yourself_ , he thought.

Hearing Xhona's sharp tone through several walls, Mar stood, reaching for his flail and attaching it to his person. He grabbed for two daggers that he secured in a boot and in the belt at his waist, before tying his dreads away from his face and pulling on his helmet.

Xhona had her hand tightly wound around the hilt of her sword and she paced the cockpit with an awkward energy. Her eyes glanced uneasily at one of Jojen's spare vibroswords, before Mar took it up, sliding the leather-strapped scabbard over his shoulder and over his chest, securing it with a pull on the fastening.

The weapon still hummed with traces of memory and Mar closed his eyes to it, deciding that while Jojen could live on in his memory, now was not the time.

'General Hux has ordered us to quell a potential coup beginning on Vardos.'

'Hux?' It was Kem who spoke, though the question had been on Mar's mind too.

Xhona nodded curtly. 'He wants it dealt with quickly and quietly.'

'Unrest in the colonies?' Mar mocked, receiving a wary glare from Xhona. Yonduun and Kem were quiet, however. Their agreement was easy to sense and Mar even caught onto several of their wild thoughts. They were truly poorly trained in the Force.

Yonduun adjusted the grenades strapped across him and his posture changed to one of discomfort. It was lucky he wore his mask, or Xhona would likely comment on his expression, not being as good at reading body-language as Mar was. 'Are we not to tell Kylo?' he questioned.

The Mirialan rubbed her lips together and then shook her head. 'The Supreme Leader does not need to know everything. This is just enforcement, it will have no bearing on his leadership.'

 _It would if General Hux plans to take advantage of the Supreme Leader's lack of awareness on waning control in the Jinata system._ Mar decided not to say the words out loud and simply nodded. Perhaps what Kylo didn't know, would not harm him either.

Xhona pulled her helmet from the ship's helm and she paused before pulling it over her head. Mar wondered why most of the unbalance he had felt pass through his teammates was mostly coming from her. Was she regretting killing Jojen, or was it something else entirely?

Mar tried not to dwell on the thought, but all he saw when he looked at Xhona now was her striking Jojen down with little pretence, and with little hesitation.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Kylo's eyes ran over the datapad, his mind working as the information scrolled past. The Lieutenant who had passed him the device was watching his expression carefully, breath held in case even the slightest disturbance pushed the Supreme Leader over the edge of the precipice he seemed to have been teetering at the edge of, all day.

'So, you suggest leaving?' Kylo murmured, dropping the pad down onto the table.

Lieutenant Wynn nodded. 'The Republic is fractured, sir, and if we were to take a dominant hold on the waning strongholds they have universe-wide, we'd be unstoppable.'

'Is Hux aware of this plan?'

The young woman hesitated and shook her head. 'Only partially sir. He has expressed his wish to take over the remaining republic-aligned planets, though has not made moves as of yet. I believe his being stationed on Riosa has hindered him.'

'You clearly seem aware that he is actioning things without my express permission, Lieutenant?'

The fear lit in her eyes and she shook her head profusely. 'The General said not to bother you with trivial diplomacy, Supreme Leader. I didn't—I—'

Kylo waved his hand to stop her talking. It was Hux he needed to deal with, regardless. 'What do you suggest, Lieutenant?'

She stuttered, though began. 'Chandrila. You should go to Chandrila and assert absolute First Order control there.'

He was silent, trying his best to withhold his reaction to hearing his birth place out loud. The idea was novel, however, and he ached at the thought of seeing the planet again.

'Very well, make arrangements Lieutenant.'

Kylo received another sharp nod and he was left alone in his ready room, his mind bubbling with a cornucopia of thoughts. Even then, however, they flitted towards his memory of Rey and he gripped the table, sensing her too closely this time and despite knowing that anger should fill him, he was more raged that it was intrigue that erupted from him first.

 _What was she doing? How was her training going? Was she thinking of him?_

He closed his eyes, his grip snapping some trinket that had belonged to whoever had used the room before him and he breathed out noisily through his nose.

As time continued to pass since Crait, his resolution seemed to leave with it. He remembered his willingness to destroy her after her rejection so distinctly, yet the sentiment that had been tied with that was long since lost. He'd even repeated to the Knights that he would do it, he would "avenge" his murdered master, yet the mere idea of it sickened him now. The revulsion stirred from the centre of his chest, where it felt like the bond was tied, like string around his heart.

Still, he stared down at his desk considering that this was the only way. His unwillingness to harm her, the pulling in his chest against any thoughts of violence against her was the Light, trying to sneak its claws into him, trying to make him believe that there was still something there for him. That love would change anything and everything.

Kylo stood, knocking his chair back sharply and reached for his Lightsaber which lay on the table. He looked it over briefly, thinking back to what Mar had said about the crystals inside his own weapon and what the Knights had continued to sacrifice since they had left Luke's care. The part of him that he had left behind at the Temple, that loyalty he had towards them back then, told him he should train them, he should stop withholding the crystals from them, yet he was too selfish to do it. Kylo ignored the thought that bringing four more Force-users into the fray would endanger more than himself, but Rey too.

Attaching the hilt to his belt clasp, he moved out of the room, readying himself for the day's journey to Chandrila.

 **XxX**

The last entry in the Resistance archive for the planet Dentaal was one of great tragedy. The entire planet had been wiped out by the Candorian plague, thought to have been released by the Empire as a means of setting an example to the other surrounding planets. It seemed that no one had returned since.

Rey imagined that since the devastation and genocide of the people of Dentaal, the rainforests that had been abundant even then, had been able to take over. In all honesty, Rey wasn't entirely sure what R2 expected her to find, yet he had reeled off the suggestion as if he knew something that she didn't. And Rey wouldn't have been surprised if he did.

'How much of the universe have you really seen R2, or is that another one of your many secrets?' Rey murmured as she tinkered with the ship's helm.

The droid gave another mysterious answer that Rey had become accustomed to receiving, and she chuckled.

'Just as long as you don't let me catch the Candorian plague, I'll forgive that.'

'All set to go?' It was Rose – much to Rey's surprise – who approached with an arm in a sling and her other hand in her jumpsuit pocket. There was a toolbelt on her hips, and Rey smiled knowing that she was already back to work.

Rey nodded. 'Just double checking that this thing won't fall apart in hyperspace. We had a few close calls on the way back.'

Rose grinned. 'I can take a look if you like?'

'By all means,' Rey answered, jumping down from the ship to allow Rose to scramble one-armed up to look over the ship's mechanics. 'R2 thinks it should be launched into the sun, but I think he's just being mean.'

The young mechanic snorted. 'You just jealous that there's another old man in Rey's life now?' she asked the droid.

R2 did not take that well and the two women burst out laughing.

'Hey, Rose. Have you ever seen a Lightsaber before?'

Her head poked out from the cockpit with interest. 'No…have you got one to show me?'

Rey frowned and shook her head. 'I'm trying to build one from scratch and I didn't write down the schematics of Luke's well enough to replicate it easily.'

'What happened to it anyway?' she asked, climbing down. 'Finn said it was in pieces.'

Rey shrugged distractedly. 'I think a wire got rusty, blew the whole thing.'

'Shame, it would have been cool to take apart.' Rose wiped her hand down on her overalls and looked back to Rey. 'Do you have any kind of idea?'

'I have a few pictures, but nothing of a step-by-step or even a detailed blueprint.'

Rose looked away briefly and then smiled when she met Rey's eyes again. 'Maybe it's one of those Jedi things? You just do it. Like second nature, you build what you have in your mind's eye or something.'

Rey groaned. 'You sound like Finn.'

'Really?' The mechanic seemed to beam at that and then glanced back at the ship. 'It looks fine to go, but you should watch that coolant. It looks like it needs replacing, and you wouldn't want the coolant duct cracking on you.'

'Thanks Rose.'

The woman gave her a brief salute, before she walked away, seeming to move from one mechanic job to another, trying to fix what little machinery was left to the Resistance's disposal.

Rey slipped her hand into her pants pocket, pulling out the small napkin that she had hastily drawn her imagined Lightsaber on. The weeks had not been kind to the image and it lay crumpled and stained in her hand. Sighing lightly, she eventually put it away, cleaning up the mess she had made around the starfighter and wiping her greasy hands on a dirty cloth.

Gathering up her satchel, Rey made her way through the hanger and back to the Falcon, noting that Chewbacca wasn't in his usual place – lounging in the cockpit – and was likely in the base itself. Rey pulled her bag from her shoulder, dropping it onto the co-pilot's chair and then looked over the controls.

Chewie had repaired most of the damage that Unkar Plutt and the previous owners of the Falcon had made, and even though the ship still looked an absolute mess, inside and out, it at least could fly like it could during the Empire.

Rey smiled, her hand drifting over the control yoke and then she glanced up, her eyes catching on the gold Sabacc dice.

The history of the die had been lost to Rey, and she had been hesitant to ask Chewbacca about it. She'd seen the dice in Kylo's hands as if they had a deeper meaning, more than being merely items used in a gambling game. The thought made her frown because it was another undecided quantity, another thing she didn't understand about Kylo that she felt she needed to.

Her finger tips knocked the dice, and she watched them swing slightly, glittering in the low-light of the cockpit. She stepped back then, straightening and folding her arms across her chest.

Rey saw him again, in her mind's eye, and this time she felt it too. As if the feelings from when she had turned from him had returned in full force, as if he were right there.

With discomfort she pulled herself away from the cockpit, quickly moving towards the refresher and discarding her dirty clothing. Chewie had hooked the Falcon up to a water tank and Rey relished the cool water that fell against her skin, finding herself inordinately happy that she was able to bathe in water rather than sonic herself clean.

Thankfully Chewie was also not on the Falcon to berate her prolonged shower use, and once she had run the water for thirty minutes, she eventually exited, drying quickly and putting on a fresh tunic, her hair still wet as she tied half of it away from her face, up into a single bun, while the rest was allowed to curl dry at her neck and on her shoulders.

Emptying her pockets in the bunkroom before arranging her dirty clothes to be cleaned, she laid out her sketch onto the table and lifted the strange polygon up into her hands, turning it over again.

'Tell me your secrets,' she murmured, though sighed heavily when nothing happened.

She stood and moved around the table and towards the storage compartments within the room. They lay stacked in shelves beside the bunks, and she'd taken to putting her spare clothing there as well as the Jedi tomes.

Something felt wrong, even as she moved, yet foolishly she tried to ignore it, thinking the feeling would pass as usual. That the sensation would remain on her peripherals, flying by like a patrolling tie-fighter, only engaging when its attention is attracted.

It didn't fade.

Rey froze, her hand clutching the bar on the shelving unit beside the cot, ready to pull it free. The sticky atmosphere grew heavier and she could not ignore the high-pitched whine that sounded, making her ears perk, making her heart leap.

'No no no no,' she whispered, closing her eyes to it, her knuckles white, still holding onto the strange object and unwilling to turn. 'Not now, not again.' A part of her thought that if she hoped enough, if she begged the Force it could become a dream. He wouldn't be behind her, watching her unbidden.

Her mouth grew dry as she heard his steady breathing.

'Rey?'

The confusion in his voice was doubtless and Rey tried to relax her breathing, to think of the least abrasive way this could be dealt with until he disappeared and was out of her life once more.

'Rey,' he repeated. There was a solidity in his tone now and Rey took another deep breath, turning to face him.

He looked better, at the very least. Better than when she had last seen him; his eyes shadowed and face bruised due to the freshly sealed scar across his face. The scar she had made, and the one thing she did not regret. The fact, however, that she cared, even partially, made her want to scream out. The bond hummed happily, satiated that it had finally put them face to face once more.

'Where are you?' he asked immediately, clearly trying to peer further into her mind, to understand.

Rey sighed, meeting his eyes. 'You know I won't and can't tell you,' she murmured, feeling subdued.

Memories of the last time came rushing back and it reminded her that her heart still ached with his choice. He should have followed her.

'Tell me,' he murmured, stepping forward. 'It will be easier this way. Let the Resistance surrender while they are still down.'

She shook her head. He was using the same tone he had used when she'd exposed herself to him, had told him everything around that campfire. Whether purposefully to manipulate her, she didn't know, yet it served as a distraction as he enclosed on her, his soft brown eyes boring into hers.

Oftentimes she had wondered how she had been so blind to his decisions, why she had let herself be convinced that something could change. Rey could have rejected the vision that the Force had given her, yet she had fallen into it, comfortable with accepting that Ben Solo could turn back to the Light, that Kylo Ren could die. He could die in the past, just like Kylo had said before.

'You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't do this,' she answered. 'This is…this is where I belong and I won't be convinced otherwise.'

Kylo shook his head, wetting his lips with his tongue. 'I realise now…' he began, and his hand reached for hers. Gloved fingers almost touched her elbow where it stayed bent, her arms across her chest. 'I realise that the Force hasn't severed our bond for a reason. It knows there is still time, and I can be patient, I can.'

Rey almost snorted, meeting his eyes defiantly. 'I won't be yours.'

He seemed affronted by her words, though he did not deny the meaning. Working his jaw, his hand did reach for her elbow and despite Rey thinking he would pull her harshly, she felt his leather-covered thumb drift across her bared skin. Frustratingly, she swallowed a breath and he held her eyes carefully.

'I won't let you push me away again,' he murmured. 'This is more important than the both of us,' he added, and he let her go. His eyes dropped to her hand then, seeing the object in her grip with a raised eyebrow. 'Where did you get that from?'

She narrowed her brows and pushed past him, putting the object back on the table so that it disappeared from his sight. His expression steeled then and Rey felt smug that she could at the very least hide this from him, make him paranoid about what she had been up to since he had betrayed her. And betrayed her he had. She didn't want to call it anything else.

The bond snapped closed, Kylo zipping from her sight and leaving only the throbbing embers of his appearance in how Rey breathed through her nose. It did not take many more seconds before her eyes were filling with tears, and she was clinging to the edge of the table, miserable and reeling.

When could she truly be rid of this terrible pain?

The Lightsaber seemed of paramount importance now. She knew how to defend herself with a staff, a blaster, but this was different.

It was like the final piece of the puzzle in her independence. It would not be pretence when people called her Jedi. Kylo would not hold something over her.

Rey took several breaths, wiping haphazardly at her cheeks as she reached for the Jedi texts. Scrambling through them and picking up a sheet of parchment and a pencil, she sketched another rudimentary design, combing through things she had seen, her own thoughts and what she hoped her weapon could become. It was built from the structure she had drawn on the napkin, but more solid, more logical, more possible.

She needed to start somewhere, and she needed to do that now.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think so far :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

 **Before**

Rather than the escort of ships that Hux had left Atterra Alpha with, Kylo left the First Order training base with his Upsilon-class command shuttle, a handful of troopers and even fewer officers. It was unnecessary to show his might beyond the lightsaber that rested at his hip and not one member of the squadron he had taken with him commented on it either.

'We will be arriving in five minutes, Your Excellency. Do you have any requests on landing?'

Kylo shifted his chair towards Lieutenant Wynn, though did not look at her. He'd thought it smarter to take the officer who seemed to understand the order of hierarchy with him, rather than fill his shuttle with Hux drones, ready to share and hide whatever information he bade them to.

'No. Has the remaining leadership agreed to meet?' Kylo questioned, staring ahead at the stars shooting by through the viewport.

He sensed her nod. 'Tomorrow sir. We will arrive just after noon and the summit will begin at ten hundred hours the following day. I have arranged the appropriate files to be forwarded to your quarters in Hanna City.'

Blinking, he finally turned to the Lieutenant who looked as if she was barely maintaining her composure. 'Quarters?'

She nodded. 'The First Order has an apartment complex within the centre of the city. Though has been vacant since the Superweapon was built.'

Turning back, he settled in his chair again, preparing himself as they pulled out of hyperspace and the vibrant blues and greens of the planet came into full view. Kylo could faintly remember the last time he'd been here, steadily departing the planet and thinking that he'd return soon, that it wouldn't be forever. He breathed out heavily and closed his eyes as they began their descent.

 **After**

Kylo could still smell her in the air around him. Standard regulation soap and the slight sour smell of clothes freshly washed, but not hung out to dry soon enough. His fingers still ached from touching her, even through his gloves, and he closed his eyes, barely withholding the urge to cry out in sheer relief.

His chest pained him steadily, and the more he thought about Rey, the more the bruise seemed to bleed and grow. The base of his skull throbbed and when he closed his eyes, she shined behind his lids. The bond was sinking its claws into him again, and he softly followed its lead, just like before, letting her take everything from him without complaint.

Everything he had said was all wrong. It wasn't what he practiced, it wasn't what he promised himself that he'd say. He was giving her more than an ultimatum, he was giving her time, and he'd promised not to. She'd had time, she'd had weeks and weeks of it now.

Even knowing what he wanted, what that path needed to look like, it seemed that he was far more willing to allow her to take the lead first and Kylo knew that this was a poison he needed to fight off. If he was not the executor of his own will, he would continue to lose against her. And this is what their relationship had become. It was a win or lose game, where losing wasn't an option for either of them, not while they were connected. But he would win, because he still had something over her – the Force, his own knowledge of it too. Even if she searched the universe for answers, she'd find nothing more. He could give her what she needed.

The thought was almost convincing, and then he remembered the object she'd held in her hand — the Holocron. Seemingly undamaged by time and whole in her hands, as if the Force was hellbent on making a laughing stock of him.

His brow furrowed as he looked out of the window of his temporary bedroom, night having fallen in the capital and the city steadily falling asleep beneath the stars.

That was the one thing Ben had always missed. There were cities wherever you went that 'never slept' and yet Hanna City always did. As if night were a holy time and the vigil of sleep was a religious experience. Lights steadily dimmed, the starshine brightening as he looked over the small city, and he smiled briefly to himself, reminded of his mother before remembering who he was and where he was.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head and taking up the glass of Chandrilan raava, trying to think of anything but his life on Chandrila.

 _Let the past die_ , he whispered to himself.

Kylo turned from the window, gesturing for the curtains to draw themselves and he sat at the end of his bed, removing his gloves steadily as he balanced the glass on his knee with the Force.

Rey wanted to hide the fact that she'd found a Holocron from him. She must have known what it was, what it contained. He wondered where she could have possibly found one, and whether its contents were valuable or not. She knew though, she had to have known, and that's why she had reacted that way.

Rey was stretching away from him.

When they had met she knew nothing, but she welcomed knowledge, and he could have provided her with everything she could possibly want to know about the Force, yet now she was squaring herself away from him. If she strayed too far, then she might truly never be convinced.

His grip on the bed-spread grew slack once he heard the material give under his hand, ripping slightly at the seams.

The anger that had built up in him over the last month wanted to be displaced on her, yet from having seen her, it seemed to evaporate like a puddle in the mid-summer sun.

The idea that she could be convinced didn't seem so far off, and despite him promising himself that it would be with him, or death, he thought that perhaps it wasn't necessary. She could come to him. She would, eventually.

If he could find a way to manipulate the bond, it would be easier. He could see what progress she had made, help her see his way, think him the best choice – he already knew this was true, she just needed to see it for herself. Kylo only wanted what the Force did. A united front for the both of them, with her by his side. He could see it materialising in front of him. And it was all he needed.

It wouldn't be like what Snoke did.

 **XxX**

Rey laid in her cot, looking up at the metal slats that held the upper bed as she turned the polyhedron in her fingers again. She'd done everything to try and prize it open, even down to spreading blood and saliva across the crystal-like material.

Kylo had recognised it with surprise, which meant that it was something important, yet it did not want to reveal its secrets to her. Rey held it up to her eyes, twisting it and seeing the light reflect off its faces.

Her lightsaber sketches were left abandoned beside her, Rey having grown frustrated very quickly at her lack of imagination when it came to building her own lifeline.

Letting go of the cube, she let it float above her, watching as it bobbed in the air before closing her eyes. She focused on the world around her. The dust particles in the air, the distant sound of the wind blowing past the Falcon, even the jumbled voices from outside. It calmed her to do so, and she sensed a steady hum of energy coming from the cube. Visualising the energy expanding and opening, blooming to her like a flower, she heard a dull click and her eyes opened to see a purple glow cover the device before a hologram of a young Nautolan appeared.

Rey immediately sat up, placing the device beside her and watching with interest as the hologram began to speak.

'I am Trex, the gatekeeper of this holocron. This holocron was created in the year 7468 C.R.C for use by Padawan learners at the Temple of Alaris Prime.' He spoke Basic, though there were words he used that Rey had not heard before and could only guess the meaning.

'What is a holocron?' Rey asked.

'A holocron is a device used by Force-users to store information.'

Rey considered this, narrowing her eyes at the device with interest. 'What information do you contain?'

'This device contains 1 petabyte of data. It is suitable for new padawan learners, so please be more specific in your questions.'

She chuckled lightly, realising that the hologram seemed to have a personality too. 'What information do you have on lightsaber building?'

'I have stored information regarding lightsaber maintenance as well as combat instructions for Forms I to III.'

Rey reached towards the table, grabbing her datapad and beginning a list. 'What are the key components of a standard lightsaber?'

'A padawan learner's lightsaber should include modulation circuits, an energy gate, a blade emitter shroud, an emitter matrix, an activator button or switch, the lightsaber hilt, a length adjuster and most importantly, at least one Force-imbued kyber crystal. I recommend including a low-power setting for training purposes.'

'Do you have a blueprint for a lightsaber as an example?'

'Please refer to another holocron regarding lightsaber mechanics. I have only stored information on maintenance for the key lightsaber parts in this volume.'

She frowned but reached forward, grabbing for the device and hoping it eventually turned itself off as she looked over her notes. There were several items that she had already known she had needed from dissembling the broken Skywalker weapon, however several others she still needed to get her hands on. Like the blade emitter matrix and shroud.

Rey stood, sifting through her things in the bottom of the one draw she had decided to keep the Jedi tomes in and pulled when her fingers met the cool edge of the broken lightsaber. She peered into the shaft, carefully looking over the crystal.

It had been clear very quickly that her biggest issue would be finding a crystal and knowing when she'd found one. Rey knew the crystal hadn't broken when she had fought with Ben for it, but it didn't feel right to use it. Even as she looked at it now, it seemed as if the crystal itself was gently pulsating away from her.

She slipped it back into the drawer and went back to sitting on the cot, looking tiredly down at her hands before closing her eyes to slip briefly into meditation.

Sitting on her cot, feeling the souls milling around on the base, she felt Kylo more pronounced than she had in almost two months. Rey couldn't be sure why the Force had allowed the almost two months of reprieve, though she had not been prepared for his presence and the dread of another untimely appearance was distracting. It was as if their meeting had fed the bond, sated it and energised it to a more robust hum beneath her skin, behind her eyelids.

Despite knowing it was nothing good, Rey struggled to understand why it persisted, and with the knowledge that the Force sought balance, she couldn't help but wonder whether it was the Force's sick idea of balance. Connecting Rey and Kylo like two sides of a coin.

The thought of having to continue like this unsettled Rey, yet a part of her, despite being small, thought that perhaps something good could still come of this, even if it was at war with everything else around her.

Chewbacca knocked on the door frame then, and Rey's eyes opened, smiling up at him as he asked whether he'd disrupted her.

She shook her head and stood. 'I was just thinking.' He made a face and Rey chuckled. 'Not about anything too dangerous, I promise I won't do that again.'

The Wookiee didn't seem to believe her and Rey sighed, her eyes glancing toward the drawer holding the lightsaber. 'Sometimes I wonder if I tried hard enough, Chewie. It's silly, I know, yet somehow I'm still here, so I often think, what if?'

Her eyes met his blue and he seemed intent on listening as she spilled her secrets. Even if she would never say it out loud, Chewie reminded her immensely of the old women at Niima Outpost. Hardened from the life, but keen to listen, be attentive, offer water or bread to those in most need. Always giving. Always accepting. She saw it in his eyes, felt how his steady heart beat, how the Force wove through him, and it comforted her immensely.

Rey had told Chewie. Eventually. It had been hours since Crait, before she'd even spoken to Leia, and it wasn't that he cornered her, but he saw how unsettled she was – still covered in dirt, shivering not against cold, but from everything that had happened. Her adrenaline had run low, and she had been reeling.

Chewbacca had been the only person to know that she had gone to the _Supremacy_ and he had known why, she had told him her plan before she had left. He had let her go, forgoing protests, trusting – or perhaps just hoping – that she was going down the right path. Luke had been against the plan, so Rey felt as if she carried the only answer. She knew Kylo—Ben, somehow she had come to know him. Even now it made no sense. So, she had told Chewbacca what had happened, the things Snoke had said, how Kylo had turned, what had followed. It did not help her understand why Kylo had not followed her – telling Chewie – yet it gave her some release.

'When Snoke was torturing me…' She murmured softly, taking a seat at the small table, Chewie following suit, folding his large form into the small chair. '…He said that he would kill me with the "cruellest stroke" and I only realise now what he meant and it frightens me immensely.'

' _Ben?_ ' The single word was simple, said with pain, but not needing any preamble or explanation.

Rey nodded. 'I resist, I can do that much, though sometimes the part of me that took me to that ship, it still calls out to him and it feels terrible, because I know it's not right.' She felt the tears come then. What she felt most poignantly was frustration and powerlessness. If she fought Kylo again she didn't know if she could win against him, or if the time came, she'd even be able to put her whole heart into it.

And she thought, as Chewie pulled her against his furry chest, that that was the worse thing about it all. She didn't know if she could ever truly fight him again.

 **XxX**

The First Order had sent its full might to Vardos and Mar couldn't say that he wasn't impressed by the fact that Kylo still wasn't aware of the strikes that Hux was carrying out under his nose. If he had known, Mar knew that he would already have been facing against a hologram message from the Supreme Leader.

They'd been on the planet for days now, camped out a few miles from the capital city of Kestro as hundreds of shuttles worth of weaponry and goods were transported down by the hour. The sheer quantity of troopers and equipment was beyond what Mar thought necessary. Even during the First Order's toughest battles on land, it had been nothing like this, and the idea that they were on Vardos to quell a _potential_ coup, seemed very unlikely. This seemed like they were fighting a war.

Mar took his time appraising the soldiers around him, touching whatever he could get his hands on to get a feel of the situation, to further understand why they were here and why the Supreme Leader wasn't allowed to know. The Jinata system played a paramount role in First Order control, so when the Empire had fallen, the gauntlet of power had deftly been placed in First Order hands. Unbeknownst to the New Republic, Jinata Security and the First Order were one. Without J-Sec there was no First Order conscription and without that, there was no army.

At dawn on the fourth day, Mar was vividly aware that their presence was all for show. Without Kylo, they were Hux's next best thing, and Mar was uncomfortable knowing that Xhona was very much aware of this. He pulled on Jojen's vibrosword regardless and moved out of the makeshift shelter they were housed in and into the brightening light. There was smoke in the air and Mar could feel the agitated thrum of the Force with every step he took.

Xhona was leading a squadron of Stormtroopers up a ridge, gaining the high-ground against the piss-poor excuse for a coup. Even if it had the potential to go planet-wide, even after almost a week, it was merely made up of the citizens in a mining town several miles from the city. General Hux must have predicted more if he wanted to shut it down now with the unnecessary force of several star destroyer's worth of soldiers. Mar could already imagine what Jojen would have said if he were here; that Hux was overcompensating for something else. The thought made Mar chuckle, because he suddenly felt closer to the ridiculous man only once he was dead.

A sensor went off in Mar's helmet, indicating that a non-First Order affiliated life form was approaching the unit and he turned towards it, cocking his repeater rifle. He sensed that Yonduun and Kem had already moved forward to join Xhona, so he stood mostly alone, bar several straggling foot-soldiers.

Mar frowned, wondering why someone or something was approaching so swiftly and he broke away, trying to meet it in the middle.

Perhaps it was foolhardy, yet he still did it without hesitation, knowing from his years helping Kylo deceive the other Knights, that sometimes going on his own was the best option.

He paused, the sensor resetting and analysing the environment again to pinpoint the location of the unknown.

Removing his mask was automatic, and Mar placed it beside him on a nearby boulder before he dropped to his knee, his hand against the ground as he read out with the Force. Its steady ebb flowed through him, reaching out like roots, feeling all that was connected to the earth, down to the soldiers not even two hundred metres away and what seemed like a young Weequay standing several feet away, with a blaster in one hand and a thumping heart in his chest.

'Do you plan on taking an entire army on?' Mar questioned, standing and opening his eyes.

The boy stood in front of him then, the blaster aimed true, despite Mar knowing that regardless, he would miss.

There were tears in his eyes and as the Kiffar stepped forward, the boy took a step away.

'I will end it now,' he murmured, despite the sadness etched on his features.

Mar shook his head, pulling the rifle onto his shoulder by the strap. 'No, you won't.' He appraised the boy briefly, his eyes narrowing and sensing him out with the Force. The Force weaved itself through the boy and Mar had to restrain himself from smiling briefly as he looked down at him. He had been touched, as they would say on Kiffu about Force sensitives.

'Why is your village fighting? Where is the Protectorate, Gleb? Mar questioned.

'Dead.' He seemed unperturbed and Mar wasn't surprised. The Kiffar could imagine that a whole planet being under the control of a single J-Sec officer was hell and that her death was probably welcome.

'Of natural causes?'

The boy grunted and shook his head. 'Nobody thinks so, but we're fighting for absolute freedom. No J-Sec, no First Order, just Vardos.'

Mar's wry smile was automatic. The young Weequay reminded him of himself. His peoples' blood ran strong with loyalty, as if Kiffu itself thrummed through the veins of the Kiffar, even if they were one hundred parsecs from home.

'What's your name?'

The boy narrowed his eyes, not understanding why he was being asked the question, though his hands did not shake as he held the weapon against Mar, despite the Kiffar's clear disregard for it.

'Ranz,' he eventually said, when silence had continued without neither of them making a move.

Mar nodded and he reached for his helmet, holding it beneath his arm. 'Well Ranz, my advice to you is to get yourself and those you care for far away from here. You have a future if you allow the Force to guide you.'

'The Force?' The boy straightened, knowing his concentration was waning. 'Are you not with them? Are you not here to kill us all?'

The Kiffar merely nodded. 'Perhaps, though I'm in the business of making my own choices.'

He watched the young man hesitate, before lowering his blaster and scurrying back down the hill, resolution clear in his step.

Mar joined back with the ranks as if he had not separated, even if it was for an incredibly small amount of time. He moved quickly to cover the ground between himself and the other Knights, and removed his rifle again as he walked into step beside them.

There were screams up ahead, and he cocked his weapon, not entirely liking the fact that they had very much become hired hands, enforcers even, for General Hux, and that blood would spill for the general, when he should have been on the list of people the knights should never trust nor pledge their swords to.

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

The decision to go to Arkanis was impulsive.

This time Rey didn't tell her friends, she just hopped into the starfighter and sped away into the skies, hoping that at least if Ben were to appear again, she wouldn't be endangering the last vestiges of the Resistance.

Rey had even left R2 behind, a foolish decision only made because he hadn't been on the roughened tarmac when she had left.

Sleep had eluded her and rather than stare absently at the slats in the upper cot in the Falcon's bunk room, she'd taken to meditating, to the extent that it had been days since she last slept, and her grasp on whatever defence she had against Kylo was disastrously poor.

It didn't seem like her resistance could stop him from appearing, nor her competence in the Force. So, Rey partially allowed herself to be led by the fear that their story wasn't over, no matter how much she needed it to be.

Her head ached with how tired she was, and she knew that even a moments inaction would have her falling asleep. She needed to find a way to block Kylo out completely, or at the very least, she needed to be strong enough to sever the bond.

Rey wasn't sure why she had chosen Arkanis. She had simply closed her eyes and pressed her finger to a flipped page. It was foolish and illogical, especially when her concentration should have been on training – on making her lightsaber – yet she was running from herself just as much as she was running from Kylo.

Touching down at Scaparus Port, Rey felt her mind cool in the steady rain. It was strangely relaxing to feel the cold-water trickle into her anorak and down her neck. The prospect of removing the hood to soak her hair and face was tempting, though Rey trudged forward, looking for shelter, dragging her staff along behind her.

She was aimless as she traipsed the docking stations in what was probably the mid-day grey. Eventually she heard the hustle and bustle of the nearest market and she followed the noise, hoping to get some food or at least a cup of Caf.

Rey settled for a tiny corner table in a dingy looking canteen, with a cup of caf that was clearly made from rain-water and a slice of dry toasted bread that took an age to chew. At the very least, the meagre meal had cost her very little and it wasn't much different from the portions she had spent her seminal years getting used to.

Even as she ate, her cheek resting gently on her hand, she was slipping from consciousness, the world blurring around her.

 _Rey_.

She hummed briefly, nodding her head.

 _Rey, what are you doing?_

'Sleeping,' she slurred, the chewed toast falling from her mouth. 'No, not sleeping, meditating.'

She slammed forward onto the metal table, her forehead hitting her cup and splashing caf all over her – thankfully – waterproof anorak. Rey blinked, feeling as if a lump was forming at the back of her head, and she touched it gingerly, knowing that she had been hit.

 _Find somewhere to sleep, not here._

Rey sighed, pulling herself up and listening to the voice's instruction. It was better to do so than question exactly which dead old man had come to involve themselves in her waking moments once again, even if they were clearly looking out for her.

The Scaparus Port Inn was as expected. Barely cleaned and almost empty. It didn't seem like Arkanis, with its never-ending rain, was much of a tourist hotspot, and other than that, it didn't seem like the most common place for the most savoury of characters.

It only took a few credits to get a room for two nights, and Rey found herself stripped of her anorak, bindings and tunic, curled in the discoloured sheets of the small bed. At least it wasn't much worse than her cot on Jakku.

Her dreams, however, were less than desirable.

The spot where she had felt a lump throbbed and even her dream self-touched it tenderly, looking about her on the classic landscape of her dreams – the dunes of Jakku. Rey for once knew she was dreaming, so at least the Force could grant her this singular reprieve from her waking problems. Yet that thought lasted mere moments before she was face to face with Obi-Wan once more, looking down at her from the peak of a dune with disappointment.

'How on earth do you expect to attain as good a complexion as mine if you choose not to sleep, Rey?' he asked seriously.

Rey scoffed and narrowed her eyes as protection from the sun as she shadowed her sight with a free hand. 'You can jump into my head now?' she questioned.

'I could just be your subconscious,' he considered. 'Would that make you feel better?'

She nodded. 'Probably. I don't think being haunted by old men is ideal.'

Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head, beginning his trek down the dune. 'Would you prefer Luke?'

Rey was silent, not sure how to answer that. While she had actually known Luke while he had been alive, the relationship she had developed with him was too tumultuous to be considered friendly, or even one between a master and apprentice. He had lied to her, he had been so hell bent against helping her, and Rey partially thought that perhaps all her time on Ahch-To had been a waste. If she had been with the Resistance instead, maybe more lives could have been saved.

She could blame him too for the bond between herself and Kylo, for her being so willing to ship herself to him. If she had never gone to Ahch-To, perhaps she would have never known the truth of what happened to Ben Solo and Luke Skywalker.

Yet he had saved them and sacrificed his life in the end.

'Don't look so glum,' Obi-Wan murmured as he stopped in front of her. 'Empathy, pity, they are human emotions, they aren't anything to hide from.'

Rey frowned. 'The Jedi texts seem to talk a lot about Jedi being free of emotion and attachment.'

Obi-Wan shrugged. 'Well you know how that ended?'

Her brows furrowed. 'That's the problem. There are so many mixed messages and I don't know what I should be doing, where I should be going.'

'Build your lightsaber.'

Rey paused, staring at the old Jedi Master, who seemed unbothered by her fears. 'That's it?'

'Perhaps your friend had the right idea when she suggested that it's just second-nature.'

'Are you ghost-stalking me?'

Obi-Wan burst out laughing, despite Rey's expression of deep trepidation. When he didn't respond, her mind began to cycle through what else he could have seen or heard, and her thoughts immediately landed on Kylo. He seemed to know what she was thinking, and her expression turned steely.

'Don't ask me questions that you don't want to hear the answers to.'

She woke then, the sky out of the tiny window in the room a deep blue, regardless of the incessant rain that seemed to have picked up.

Her chest ached again, and she screamed, her fists tightening in the sheets. Because Obi-Wan had been right. She didn't want to hear the answer, and she knew she'd ignore it.

Kylo stirred confusion in her, and she didn't need a dead Jedi Master's input to figure that out. She knew it by her indecision, by the fact that she'd rather avoid him forever than confront him. Rey would rather never know what the outcome of a conversation between them could come to.

At least now she had rested, and with a clearer head, she removed the holocron from her satchel. Her lightsaber sketches and the pile of items she had managed to scrounge together on the base came out afterwards, and Rey looked at them intently, as if an answer would suddenly come to her.

 **XxX**

Kylo slept, albeit poorly. A ridiculously early sunrise woke him and he shouldn't have expected less, when it had been years of him becoming attuned to automated light waking him. Even on Attera Alpha, where days were three hours long, he'd woken to artificial lighting.

Yet for the fourth day in a row, he was up before even the droids had begun their morning routines and he sat up in the bed that was far too soft for him, and he closed his eyes, stretching out with the Force like.

Chandrila wasn't much different than it had been when he was a child. Even so much as the Force thrumming through the veins of the earth, through the people and creatures, felt the same. The action of letting the world around him sink into his flesh was important, even if it was too much Light, it allowed him to keep it distant. To know that he could so easily crush the Light that surrounded him, because he knew it was there. It could not suddenly sneak up on him, it faced against him and in that, it could be his clear enemy, and one that he could fight.

Rey was a blur to him. She was inconstant, flitting through his mind so easily. Catching a hold of her emotions, her presence even, was like grasping smoke. It was frustrating.

'Supreme Leader, you are up. Shall I prepare your breakfast?'

The droid seemed over-alert and Kylo looked at it shrewdly, immediately being reminded of his mother's ridiculous protocol droid – C-3PO. He merely nodded, withholding the urge to throw the droid across the room, and he shifted from his bed, reaching for his lightsaber.

Almost a week of being on Chandrila and he hadn't heard a peep from Hux. It was obvious the general was up to something, considering he was not even seeking permission any longer. Kylo's better sense told him to consider his next steps, ones that involved leaving Hux completely out of the picture.

The talks on Chandrila had gone well and diplomacy seemed to be the word of the moment, regardless of what Kylo's original intention had been. Kylo had no interest in destroying Chandrila, and he could tell himself it was because it seemed like a pointless waste of resources, though he was truly just unwilling to destroy his childhood home. The thought was irrationally sentimental and Kylo was steadily aware after the talks had concluded, how poorly Snoke would have taken his actions.

Even after, Kylo was half-convinced that he'd be subject to a bout of Force Lightning and when it didn't happen, he shakily wiped sweat from his brow and sat silently in his room, not meditating, just staring out at Hanna City.

He still felt at odds with himself, even though months had passed since the _Supremacy_ had torn in two and he had killed his master. Kylo didn't regret doing so, yet his place now, as Supreme Leader of the First Order, was not what he had wanted, even if Rey had joined him to rule. He didn't know what he had wanted but standing on a balcony over Hanna City wasn't it.

If Snoke were still here perhaps he would have said that he needed blood. Needed to feel death brought by his own hands to feel some semblance of relief. And Kylo remembered when that had worked, when he could mindlessly kill, and it felt like purpose.

Kylo heard the smash of glass and he realised he'd done it, concentrating on a window for too long, his hand tightening into a fist with the thought that perhaps Jojen had been right. That without Snoke he was nothing but a master-less puppet, reverting back to a time where he could be bested in a fist fight. The thought was inherently painful and for several seconds he was lost in his own mind. What brought him back was the generous tug in his chest. His tether to Rey.

The room was a mess when he looked about him, the droid quivering in a corner and his fists were cracked, bleeding steadily. He watched his blood flow and for the first time he felt sick at the sight of it.

 **XxX**

The droid eventually cleaned up the mess that Kylo had made while he showered and got dressed. When Kylo eventually emerged into the central meeting room within the apartment complex, Lieutenant Wynn and the other officers he had brought with him were waiting to brief him.

He took a seat at the head of the table, gesturing for them to begin. Kylo noticed the general nervousness in the air, and his eyes narrowed seeing that the three other officers were almost glaring at Wynn, something he found ultimately suspicious.

'General Hux has sent us a communique. Captain Yagohas informed him that the _Supremacy_ is in good enough condition for travel and will be making its way towards the inner rim. The General suggests he must return to helm the ship.'

'Does he not have any updates on Riosa?' Kylo asked, looking deftly at Sergeant Shep.

The sergeant nodded. 'Production is up 30% and Hux seems to have replaced the management there.'

'Replaced?'

'Yes, Your Excellency.' Captain Nox answered tightly.

Kylo looked about him, studying the eyes of each officer and then glancing at the troopers that lined the room, easily sensing their uncertainty.

'You're not telling me something.'

Wynn swallowed. 'The Chandrilan leadership are gone,' she managed after far too many moments of silence. The room was still and Kylo blinked at her, his face revealing too much.

'What do you mean gone?'

'Dead or…just gone, sir.' Shep murmured.

'Then what about the talks?'

'As far as we can tell, control is absolute.'

Kylo stood suddenly, looking about him. 'Who was it?'

Every single head shook and Kylo couldn't sense any dishonesty, something that worried him immensely. 'How?'

'Several protocol droids in the town hall were unable to find their masters. I did some further digging and they are all missing or murdered. Throats slit in their beds.' Wynn said.

Nox smirked. 'I suppose not to our loss, it is easier this way.'

Kylo, however, was not happy. It was another suspicious occurrence that made him look over his shoulder. This smelled like Hux, and Kylo didn't like that the general could pull something of this magnitude offa under his nose. If he had hired an assassin now…it was a game of guess regarding what the man would do next.

'The _Supremacy_ stays in the outer rim,' Kylo said, moving towards the door. 'Send Hux back to Atterra Alpha and set up an encrypted communication channel in my quarters.'

He didn't bother waiting for a response before he went marching back to his rooms, his fingers pressed firmly into his temples, trying to work through Hux's game plan. Though as he slid the metal door closed, locking it behind him, his head throbbed gently, and his legs pulled him to the centre of the room.

'No.'

It was fast this time. His ears still ringing as he heard her voice, and he turned, barely arranging his expression to remain normal.

She was soaked, shaking from the cold or some unnecessary fear he did not know, but the cotton of her clothes was drenched in water. His eyes narrowed, and he could hear it, the rain, and then he looked to her hands and she held her staff in a tight grip.

 _Still without a weapon_ , he thought. _Time has not run out yet._

* * *

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	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Rey's white knuckled grip on her staff was the only thing keeping her grounded as she looked at Kylo, meeting his eyes with a steady reluctance.

This could not be avoided, yet regardless of the war raging within her when it came to Kylo, she knew this wasn't what she needed, not when Finn had just given her a clear reminder of why this wasn't right, why she needed to distance herself from Kylo.

 _~ 1 Hour Earlier ~_

 _Rey grinned as she messed with the viewport toggle, clearing up the imaging over the encrypted line so that she could see Finn more clearly. His face eventually evened out and the static of the restricted connection remained at the edges._

 _'You're smiling so widely as if you didn't just up and leave without another word,' he stated with a heavy frown._

 _'I was…I just needed a breather,' Rey decided on. 'I needed the motivation to just go.'_

 _Finn didn't seem to like the answer, but he nodded anyway. 'Any more luck with the lightsaber?'_

 _Rey fiddled with the parts that lay out on the table before her and she shook her head. 'Even if I figure a way to jimmy this all together, I still need a crystal.'_

 _'What's wrong with the other one?'_

 _She shook her head. 'I can't…no I can't. I need to have my own, or else it feels too close, it's just a reminder.' Rey glanced up at Finn and sighed lightly. 'It's too much of a legacy and it feels unlucky to use it.'_

 _Finn clearly didn't understand by the expression on his face, thinking it just another weapon without any allegiance, yet Rey knew that the crystal resisted her just as much as it called to her. There was a reason the lightsaber had broken itself in two on the_ Supremacy _and now the crystal that remained was in pain, a slither of a crack down its centre. They had broken its heart and Rey couldn't bear the thought of another reminder of the broken things she was surrounded by._

 _'Well I do have some good news for you at least. It seems that the Jinata system is in the middle of a coup. We've had an influx of people coming through our spies to seek refuge with us and it seems that the First Order has lost control of Vardos.'_

 _Rey's brow furrowed in thought, going back to what she knew of the Jinata system._

 _'Isn't that system like a fortress of security?'_

 _Finn nodded. 'The Protectorate is dead, and it looks like the J-Sec and First Order partnership died with her. Poe's figuring out how we can take advantage of it, but this is big Rey. J-Sec were the ones heading pretty much all of the recruitment drives. Without their loyalty, Project Resurrection is at a stand still and Hux's forces are weakened.'_

 _'What is happening to Vardos now?' Rey asked warily._

 _Her friend frowned, despite the clear hope he held on to. 'Not much good. The planet is on lockdown and if we don't do something soon, it might just be another First Order genocide that we didn't prevent.'_

 _Rey sucked in a breath, her hand tightening on the edge of the table. Mockingly, she felt her inner saboteur call it balance. One good thing to make way for one terrible thing. What use was this information if the Resistance didn't have the resources to do anything? If the First Order – if Kylo, and she couldn't avoid that this was him, that this was all him – were holding a whole planet hostage, what could she possibly do?_

 _After a quick farewell, Rey cut the connection. Leaving her things arranged on the table, Rey grabbed for her staff, bypassing her anorak as she left the inn to aimlessly wander the port town. Wanting some semblance of catharsis in the rain. To wash away the sudden numbness that overwhelmed her, especially knowing that regardless of her indecision over Kylo, his actions, his very existence, was getting people killed. She shouldn't have allowed it, and the fact that she did by standing in the rain on Arkanis, rather than doing everything she could to destroy him at every waking moment, was her greatest adversary._

'Rain?' Kylo murmured aloud, his eyes glancing across the water that drew lines across her skin and continued to drip from her clothes. 'Where have you gone?'

Her eyes narrowed, and she straightened, taking a deep breath as she looked over at him. 'What would you do if I told you?' she questioned.

Kylo hesitated for a moment, looking her over carefully. Before he could answer, Rey snorted, raising her chin at him. 'You would send soldiers after me, no?'

'I would find you myself,' he answered, his voice level. 'I would not involve anyone else again, this will be between you and me, as it should be.'

Rey was suddenly angry, and she closed her eyes, the hand holding her staff sinking by her side, the weapon's edge clattering against the concrete floor of the alley she stood in. 'You must know I can't allow that,' her voice turned out softer than she had wanted, and Rey's eyes squeezed more tightly shut in frustration. She could feel how earnest he was being, and it made her want to fight him. 'I will not join you, you will not join me. We have reached an impasse and neither of us can be convinced otherwise.' Her eyes opened and Kylo was watching her carefully, closer than he had been before, and she saw the rain hit him now, dampening his dark hair, soaking through his clothes.

'If our business was finished, then I imagine that the Force would not connect us any longer.'

She snorted once more. 'Perhaps it's the Force's version of a practical joke?'

'You know that's not true.'

Rey sighed, looking down at her feet. Yes, she did, but she would not say the words out loud. The rain was freezing, and she knew it was ridiculous to allow herself to get soaked so thoroughly, yet she couldn't simply walk away with Kylo in front of, trying to ween her of all her answers.

She heard him hum in thought and she looked up to see him licking his lips. 'The rain tastes like sapir,' he commented. Her eyes narrowed at him, wondering why that mattered and then his eyes seemed to relax and see right through her.

'Arkanis?' he questioned.

Her fury was potent, yet it seemed to wash away with the rain as her shoulders slumped and she looked at the sky, begging that the Force could make this end, for him to disappear again. She had been right to leave Ahlenn if he could so easily surmise where she was based on the taste of the rain.

'Shall I wait here for you, then?' she inquired flatly. 'Order a bottle of whiskey at the closest tavern and wait for you to arrive?'

His lips quirked into a brief smirk, barely a smile and Rey couldn't understand it at all.

'Perhaps if I were more gullible I would take you up on your offer,' he answered.

She watched him for a moment, analysing the intent in his eyes, watching his hair quickly flatten until his ears were poking from between the wet dark locks and he pushed the strands back, his face unguarded. There wasn't anything that he was keeping from her, in fact he looked open, even more so than the two times when he'd offered her everything.

'I won't disappear from you simply watching me,' he murmured. 'Though it is quite interesting that the Force bond is strong enough that I'm getting soaked in the rain while I'm inside.'

Rey's brow furrowed and she breathed out. 'Why do you do it?'

'What?' he asked quickly, incredulously.

'Pretend that there is some righteous meaning to your actions, that the Force is your centre and that everything else is balance. Genocide isn't balance.' She could feel hot tears threatening to fall and Rey was thankful that even if they did, they would not be visible, regardless of whether Kylo would feel them within himself, or not.

Kylo looked confused, however. 'Genocide?'

'Vardos.'

His lips worked as he thought in silence and then his eyes narrowed. 'The Jinata Security freehold? That's a First Order ally, there aren't even stormtroopers there.'

Rey waited for some signal of a lie. An eye twitch, a movement in his hand, yet she knew that even without these, she was capable of catching him in any lie he told. The bond could do that much. The thought made her laugh then, that he could be so sold on the idea that he knew everything, knew every possible future and knew that theirs was set and resolute, yet he didn't even know that there were thousands of soldiers holding an entire planet hostage.

'Before considering your designs for me, you should consider your own military, Supreme Leader,' she mocked. 'Even if I have no control over this bond, I can resist you and I will do so happily.'

She lifted her staff then in front of her, gripping it with two hands. Kylo stepped forward, confusion painted across his dipped brow and then he was gone.

Rey was left to the rain and her thoughts, finding that though it was worse being on her own without someone else to distract her from her indecision, her next steps were very clear.

 **XxX**

'The channel is ready, Your Excellency.' A voice said over his general comm link, snapping Kylo back to the present in all his rain-drenched glory.

He stripped off his outer tunic and removed a towel from the refresher, rubbing it into his hair as his anger grew, realising that Hux was doing far more than he had originally considered.

Kylo breathed out heavily, taking a seat by the communications port, his bare finger working the dial.

 **XxX**

Mar wiped the grime off his hands with the bottom of his tunic before stripping it off with frustration and tossing it into the laundering unit. The other knights remained in the makeshift shelter within the ranks, but Mar had, had enough.

The First Order's presence was nothing more than a cull and with every village the troops swept through, the more it seemed like the plan was to make the planet irreparable. Even those who didn't fight and hadn't fled were struck down and Mar resisted joining in. Despite his disregard for even Kylo's orders, that was exactly the point. They weren't even Kylo's orders to resist against.

Senseless slaughter, regardless of his allegiance, whether to the Jedi order or to the Knights of Ren, had never been a key component to his existence, and the thought that this had become Mar's life incensed him, particularly considering that Snoke had only ever been the true threat, especially when Hux and his First Order scourge could so easily be disposed of. After everything they'd been through, after following Kylo with the knowledge that Luke had tried to kill him. To come to this.

Mar disarmed himself steadily, hanging up Jojen's vibrosword in the dead man's rack and then resting his flail and repeater rifle in a box outside of the bunk room. His helmet was already discarded on the cabin table and Mar sensed out where the others were before he slunk through the ship, masking his own path as he honed in on the small compartment that fit between the engine and gunner bay.

It took a flick of his wrist with the Force to have the space open and he reached inside, bypassing his communicator and pulling out the lightsaber hilt he kept locked away. The crystal thrummed excitedly at his touch, and he smiled wryly at the thought that it'd been years since he'd last used it.

Mar could still remember when he'd built the weapon, so proud that he had made one more step towards becoming a Jedi, one that could represent the next era. The naivety of a privileged child, and one who still had family to run to, even if Mar had never said the words, would never say that. Perhaps that was why he had never destroyed the weapon or left it behind, because it represented a time when his good was inherently a part of him. Now he wasn't so sure.

He could leave right now, take the ship or find another, and just leave Xhona, Yonduun and Kem behind. Mar imagined that the only person truly capable of finding him was Kylo, and he didn't think that the Supreme Leader would be particularly interested in chasing the Kiffar across the galaxy.

With a sigh, Mar placed the lightsaber back into the cubby and removed the communicator, switching it on and waiting for it download any transmissions. The small LED on the side lit green, notifying him that there were awaiting messages when Mar heard the tell-tale buzz of the First Order communication channel being opened up and he hesitated before putting the communicator away, locking the compartment and moving back into the cockpit.

Bending down towards the console, he flicked the switch and the Supreme Leader materialised in front of him, fury painted clear across his features. It didn't take much effort on Mar's part to guess that the man knew where he was.

'There is a coup on Vardos?'

Kylo's holographic glare was palpable, and Mar chewed on the inside of his mouth, having nothing to say.

'On whose orders are you there?'

'Hux's,' he responded reluctantly, a fist tightening at his side.

The Supreme Leader's nostrils flared, and Mar closed his eyes.

'Isn't it your job to tell me when Hux decides to move without my express order?'

Mar couldn't suppress his mirth and he snorted, meeting Kylo's steady holographic gaze. 'No, Kylo, it is not. Hux was never our business. You made sure of that when you sent us to the unknown regions to scavenge Sith and Jedi artefacts.'

Kylo was silent, his anger growing, and Mar considered for a moment that he had gone too far. It had been easy to play the silent and competent Knight so far, so he should have just continued. It was useless to make Kylo consider that he was a problem too.

'Xhona made it clear that this was a routine operation. Or should I say that Hux said as much.' Mar squared his jaw, leaning forward into the hologram, his hands resting on the controls' edge. 'It is blood and fire out there, Kylo. Hux has said no prisoners.'

The Supreme Leader rubbed his temples, his eyes closing. 'I think Hux had Chandrilan governance assassinated,' he murmured, sounding suddenly subdued.

Mar blinked, straightening again.

'He is becoming out of control.'

'So these are power moves?' the Kiffar responded, seeming to understand what the general was doing. 'Power moves in the regions with the most unrest since Snoke died.'

Kylo breathed steadily and looked directly at Mar. 'What do you suggest I do?'

The Kiffar didn't have an answer. Regardless of his own skin, there was little he could suggest other than killing Hux outright, though that could lead to other complications depending on what allies he had made, perhaps even whose heads he had turned within the First Order itself.

'Leave Chandrila at the very least,' Mar decided on. 'Is Hux the new purpose now?' he asked, thinking back to what Kylo had said about the girl weeks before. 'Should we not be seeking out the artefacts and what about the girl?'

'What about the girl?' He gritted his teeth.

Mar almost laughed once more, but kept his expression balanced this time. 'If she bested Snoke, is she not the greater threat? More so than Hux?'

Kylo was silent for several moments. 'I will deal with her.'

'You will—.'

'—I will deal with her,' he repeated, interrupting Mar quickly. 'It is my fight, regardless of what Hux is doing.'

Mar appraised his leader with interest. He had sounded a lot like Luke in that moment, less in his tone, but more in his resolution. The concept that – more than a potential mutiny, or loss of First Order control around the galaxy – a single Force user could be the answer to everything, interested him immensely, and Mar considered that perhaps this idea could be valuable in more ways than one.

'Very well. What do you want me to tell the others?'

'You don't need to tell them anything. Continue with your orders, though do not follow Hux's instruction.'

Mar nodded and the hologram zipped closed, the Kiffar huffing gently and slumping into the pilot's chair.

His plans would need to be altered, and he considered that perhaps the girl was a part of it, and that all answers may be pointed to her.

 **XxX**

Rey pulled her staff more tightly over her shoulder as she gave the room a onceover before leaving. It was unwise to stay on Arkanis any longer with the knowledge that Kylo knew exactly where she was, so Rey decided that her impromptu trip to the rainy planet had to be cut short.

Despite that, on her way back to the V-wing, she stopped off at the market and as if by divine providence, though Rey truly believed it was just a practical joke by the Force, she found a table of small circular metal rings and analysing them carefully, they seemed to resemble parts that she had seen on the Skywalker lightsaber.

Smiling to herself as she made purchases of what would be her emitter matrix and shroud, Rey felt slightly better about climbing into the ship and manually mapping in co-ordinates to her next destination. It would have been wise to head back to Ahlenn and pick up R2, yet she felt returning so soon would be a bad idea, particularly with the bond seemingly alive and insistent.

 **XxX**

It felt familiar as Kylo packed his satchel. Not unlike when his parents had sent him to Luke – on his orders, carrying the barest of essentials – or even when he'd burned everything down. Kylo didn't feel the same, but the monotony of it, the muscle memory of stuffing several rations and tools for his lightsaber inside the leather bag, was what remained.

His time on Chandrila had been more enlightening than he had expected, and even with a list of Hux's underhand actions in his mind, it was seeing Rey again that was most profound. It had given him a direction again. The fact that he hadn't caught on to his path earlier seemed laughable now, and he considered that the Force in itself could be simple; could work in straight-forward ideas. The First Order was irrelevant if the Force was clearly indicating the importance of Rey to him.

Kylo supposed that this is what Snoke had meant all along. Following the Force, and executing its will was of paramount importance, even if Snoke himself had forgotten it by trying to manipulate what was always meant to be an inevitability.

Taking up his datapad, he checked once more that it contained the numerous reports that the Knights had formulated over the years – where they had gone, what they had found, and additionally, the encrypted details of Mar's solo exploits.

It would be his map to further knowledge. He needed to further his power, know more about the bond – to finally, truly complete his training.

The bond thrummed beneath his skin, slipping like silk against knuckles and it did not take much thought to embrace that, to delve into the feeling of Rey's Force signature. Even if he could not influence it, he could feel it, see it, taste it even.

'Supreme Leader, your ship is ready,' a protocol droid spoke as it entered.

He nodded, and the robot slipped away again, leaving Kylo to look about the space he was leaving, his satchel neatly set against the leg of a glass table.

Once Rey saw what he saw, once she understood that this was the correct path, then everything else would fall into place. The bond was merely the method in which he could do that and show her what their future truly looked like.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, friends!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

* * *

The loud slam of a repeater rifle landing on durasteel dragged Mar from his fitful sleep in the pilot's chair, and he blinked as Xhona stood over him, her blaster in her hands.

'Was wondering where you went,' she mumbled, slipping the weapon into her thigh holster.

'Kylo knows we're here,' Mar muttered, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. 'He wants us to leave immediately.'

Xhona was silent and Mar could see by her body language that she wished to strike him. He straightened up at that, setting his mouth into a grim line.

'Is that your way of undermining my leadership, or have you really just taken on the gauntlet of Jojen's fool?'

'You do like to jump to conclusions,' he answered, standing up. 'Anyway, I thought we were still Kylo's band of fools.'

She narrowed her eyes, and Mar knew she hadn't liked that at all.

'You know that I am your superior, Mar. Or do you wish to anger me further?'

He smiled, slipping past her and reaching for a pack of rations.

After speaking with Kylo, he'd gone back to the hidden compartment in the ship, resolving himself to leaving once the other Knights had returned. Kylo's need to find this girl – to fight her or kill her Mar wasn't sure – seemed to make Mar doubt his leader's words, and the Force did not dissuade him from that thought.

Mar held the canteen he had retrieved from Ilum, and he turned it over and over, trying to gain another read from it. Flashes of the young Force user still tainted it, and even if it had been briefly touched by Xhona, it still held her essence.

If she was the person that Kylo intended to focus all his efforts on, without the assistance of the Knights, then she was important. It didn't matter to Mar at this moment what that importance truly meant, but it wasn't something he could leave to the wayside. She held their future in her hands, she held Kylo's future in her hands, and Mar still didn't quite know what to do with that information.

Perhaps it would be her who would end it all. The Knights. Kylo. The First Order, even.

Mar had tucked the canteen into his satchel along with the contents of his cache, trying to hold onto that string of her he felt from being where she had been, touching what she had touched. The link was fragile, and Mar was unpractised in using his psychometry to find the person connected to the object they touched.

He couldn't stop thinking that perhaps Kylo dismissing all questions surrounding the Force-user meant that the part she played in Snoke's demise was different than what they all thought. A secret that Kylo didn't want exposed. The idea that Jojen was right sat poorly in the bottom of Mar's stomach and he squeezed the final item he'd taken up – his Lightsaber – more tightly in his hand as he looked down at it. A part of him, regardless of how small, knew that its power wouldn't lay dormant for much longer, and Mar grit his teeth, dreading the thought.

When his things had been packed, he had stowed the satchel in the shuttle and had gone back to the cockpit to wait for the others.

Xhona still stared at the side of his head, her eyes near blazing with her intensity. Mar ignored it easily, used to the woman's fire, but he looked back at her eventually, the packet of energy cubes loosely grasped in his hands.

'What did you speak to Kylo about?'

Mar turned again, ripping open the packet and shrugging casually. 'No more following Hux's orders, and he wants us to take a break.'

'A break?' Yonduun perked up from across the cockpit as he gently put his weaponry away. 'He's never ordered that.'

'I suppose the man has changed.'

Xhona still looked angry and Mar stopped in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders and meeting her gaze with a warmth to counteract her rage. She battled, and he chuckled lightly. They had known each other for so many years and yet she still resisted meeting his eyes, as if he could suck the truth from her violet irises.

'Take a break, Xhona. You can do that much.'

He was ready to walk away, but she grabbed him roughly, her sharp nails breaking skin and Mar's brows furrowed as he looked at the blood that began to drip into his palm.

'You are not keeping more from me, are you Mar?'

'Like what?'

She swallowed. 'Information about the girl.'

'I don't even know her name,' Mar answered, and that, at the very least, was true. Of all the things she could ask, Mar hadn't thought it would be about her. It wasn't as if there was anything to be done about the young Jedi currently. Kylo had ordered them against actively looking for her, and so far, they had at least followed that order.

'Where will you go then?'

Mar smirked. 'Now that's the spirit.' He took his hand back, wiping the blood on his trouser leg and tossed the rest of the rations into his mouth. 'I'm going to take the shuttle,' he added.

When he looked at her, she still looked distrustful and Mar pursed his lips, wondering what on earth he could say to his fellow knight. He moved his gaze from her directly, the hidden fear that she could compel him by accident still ripe within his mind as always.

'You should speak to Kylo,' Mar added, pulling an empty satchel from the floor. He put several knives inside and then a few packets of rations, before looking back at Xhona, questioning with raised brows why she wasn't answering. He eventually gave up, and took up his bag, hauling it to the bunk room to raid it for a change of clothes, when he felt Xhona follow close behind him.

She closed the door to the room quickly, and Mar felt the oxygen grow thin as Xhona's pale yellow-green skin grew darker with an emotion Mar knew too well. He sighed gently, resisting setting her off. Her hands curled into tight fists as she looked at him.

'You're hiding something from me. You both are.'

And they were. Mar wasn't surprised that she was cornering him, she had before when Kylo had stopped confiding in her years ago, when they stopped being as close as siblings, or he supposed it had been more than that between them, it had been different back at the temple.

'Kylo may have his secrets, but do not put that on me. Snoke kept us away for years, can we really expect less?'

He wouldn't lie to her about that, at the very least. Kylo wouldn't even tell him about this Jedi girl, who apparently bested Snoke and eight Praetorian guards. Kylo always had secrets, it was his M.O. and Xhona knew that, she always had. Though before she had accepted his constant need to lie, so Mar couldn't understand what had changed.

'Where has Kylo told you to go?'

Mar huffed. 'Well it's not as if he has told me to find the girl, has he? If she killed Snoke herself, then what could I possibly do to her?'

'You believe him, then.'

He hesitated, narrowing his eyes at her. It was as if she were trying to catch him in a lie, and her expression was no different from the one she had worn when she had killed Jojen. As if the wrong answer would lead to his own demise. 'Nothing good will come of not believing it.'

Xhona took her time to breathe, almost glaring at Mar, before she turned away, storming from the room.

Mar closed the satchel, doing up the buckles along its front and hauling it onto his shoulder. He loosed a breath, his eyes blinking shut, only opening again when he sensed Yonduun slide in, disturbing the acrid aura that Xhona had left behind.

'Where are you going?' the Iktotchi asked, his hands on the hilts of the daggers strapped to his waist. There was no threat, in fact he looked nervous.

Mar's brow furrowed, and he approached his fellow knight, trying to read his expression before he shut the sliding door behind him.

'Just away, trying to get my thoughts in order.' Mar answered, pulling the satchel across his chest. There was a pause before he asked. 'What happened?'

Yonduun swallowed, briefly glancing back at the closed door. 'What is Kylo up to, Mar? I know he speaks to you more…when we left the room…after Jojen…'

Mar closed his eyes. Jojen's death had caused a larger fissure than he thought, if suddenly his own relationship with Kylo was under further scrutiny, regardless of how rational Yonduun's question was. They'd never suggested that Mar worked independently for Kylo before, but now…

'I don't know,' the Kiffar responded with a huff. 'Truly.' He met the man's yellow eyes and he saw the hesitation there. 'After Snoke's death it has been different.'

'Perhaps Jojen was right.'

'Don't say that,' Mar responded sharply, his voice dropping. 'Regardless of what you or I think about Kylo, it is Xhona who killed Jojen, remember that.'

Yonduun narrowed his eyes, adjusting his shoulders. 'What are you saying?'

Mar backed up, taking a breath before he slid the door open again. 'Enjoy your time off, Yonduun.' He breezed past the man, moving swiftly down to the shuttle at the back of the ship.

The team was fractured, and Mar knew he was a fool—dancing with death by leaving now.

 **XxX**

Rey climbed from the starfighter, jumping down from the wing and approaching the man who stood at the edge of the hill. His cloaks billowed in the wind and his sights were on the orange horizon, past the ocean and onwards.

While Corellia still teamed with rural landscapes, rolling fields, forests and oceans, the same could not be said for Coronet City. The place was stacked with buildings and Rey could feel the steady thrum of millions of lives beating through the earth as she stood at the city's edge, the ocean ahead of her and the city breaking along its beaches to her right, with its massive shipyards teaming with workers.

Even from such a distance, the noise was carried on the wind; chaotic and alive. Stopping for fuel had not been a choice, yet it seemed like one once she had sensed Obi-Wan and seen him appear before her V-Wing.

Her mind was full of questions, yet she drew silent once she stopped beside him, her eyes looking out to where his were lost.

'A city of dreamers,' Obi-Wan murmured. 'Seeking something beyond their shores, never looking back once they've left. A beautiful tragedy to become a city containing only those left behind.'

Rey studied the cityscape; the orange haze and its vastness; the flat and squat buildings making way for spindly skyscrapers; all working cohesively together. No sense could be truly made of its structure, and Rey could not even tell where the lines were drawn between the rich and poor. There was only noise and the sea.

'Don't be shy, Rey. I know enough to know you have a lot of questions.' There was amusement in his tone.

'That you can answer?' she questioned, glancing at him briefly.

Obi-Wan smirked. 'Potentially no, but there's no harm in you trying.'

'I'm surprised you can't just read my mind,' she murmured, deciding to sit down, her legs folding underneath her as she sat on the yellowed grass.

The Force ghost followed her, sitting comfortably cross-legged and watching the sky begin to take on deeper red tones as the sun began to set, still maintaining its copper stain.

'I could always give that a try, I hadn't thought about doing that.'

Rey chuckled and shook her head. The distant noise of the city calmed her thoughts somewhat and she sighed gently. 'You must know that the bond is still there between us? That the Force is connecting us again.'

He simply nodded in response, his fingers rubbing through his grey beard.

'Can you really not tell me why?' Her expression downturned and her tone earnest.

'I'm sorry, Rey, I do not know that answer.'

She frowned but continued regardless. 'I'm beginning to doubt everything. Doubt that I should be following the old texts, that I should be going down this path, that what I'm doing is for the greater good, even.' Her hands rubbed across her face and she sighed heavily.

'Doubt is never a bad thing, Rey,' Obi-Wan answered carefully. 'To doubt is the only way to learn from your mistakes, and there will always be mistakes, there will always be something more to learn. Even now I am learning, and as you can see, I'm not exactly a spring chicken.'

Rey chuckled lightly, though she still felt on edge about it all.

'I think that without doubt, there's the possibility of believing that the Light is always good and Darkness is always bad. You shouldn't let that plague you, because the Force is the Force, it holds no allegiance. If we resolve ourselves to a single answer, then we are dealing in absolutes, and that in itself, is inherently negative.'

'But what if I just want a simple answer.'

Rey should have expected the wry smile that Obi-Wan gave her in return. 'I imagine that if Ben Solo was simple, you wouldn't be here asking me, that the answer would be clear enough and you wouldn't need my input.'

'I didn't mention him.'

He simply chuckled.

She sighed deeper, looking down over at the city, though when she turned to ask another question, Obi-Wan was gone, leaving her alone with her thoughts once more and with more questions than answers.

 **XxX**

It was Ilum.

When the Force had spoken its name to him, Kylo knew it was where he should have gone from the start. Foolishly thinking that it wasn't him who should when he'd told the knights to go there instead.

He eased himself into the tatters of Ilum's atmosphere, landing on a large outcrop over a cliff that had been carved into the ice and earth. The smell of death had worn off the planet long ago, but its life still held on like the snow on Kylo's clothing. So easily blown away by a brisk wind.

Kylo had been here before, taken by his uncle before he'd even opened the Temple. To show him what the path had been before, and what it would be now.

It took little effort to recall where he and his uncle had tread, even if Kylo hated the memory; still held on to hating his uncle with every fibre of him. Hating that he'd not let him kill him. That this was all his fault.

He growled at the corner of his mind that called his placement of blame a game and he pulled his cloak tighter as he traipsed the landscape towards the entrance to the mostly destroyed Temple.

Nothing much remained there other than scraps of memories, and what was left of the kyber crystals in the planet's crust.

It was the crystals that were so vital for what he wanted do. Naturally attuned with the Force, they were like a conduit that his own power could flow through. If he meditated within the Temple, he could reach further, see further.

The Temple's structure had been ripped in half, half falling into the depths of the planet, the other, half sunken into the caves that laid beneath it. The Force was enough to create an entry into the tunnelled systems, and he moved through until he reached what he established as its centre.

There were still marks of the ancient Temple buried beneath the rubble and ice and Kylo still kept himself alert for any artefacts, for even the hint of a holocron. He'd never been able to find one, yet Rey had and who knows what it could possibly have contained.

Despite wanting to fixate on that holocron once more, he instead cleared a space and folded himself onto the floor, immediately closing his eyes and sinking himself into the world around him, meditation coming easily, and finding his mind clearer than it had been in months.

Extending himself beyond his own body was second nature and he reached and reached, trying to grip onto what remained living on the planet. Whispers of its past brushed past him as he moved, escaping from the Temple and able to walk along the planet's many ridges, the fear of falling non-existence as he soared.

The Knight's presences still flowed through the earth, still sated by the Force that flowed through them, thrumming more potently than those who weren't touched by the Force.

He took another breath, stretching further until he stopped abruptly, something passing across his vision: A purple haze. Kylo reached for it, lifting his hand automatically, even when he was travelling in mind rather than body. His phantom fingers drew through the mist and there it was.

Rey.

She'd been here and had said nothing.

The lilac path she had tread led down alongside the cliff to another entrance to the Temple, and he followed it, his chest constricting. It had been months since he'd been so close to her, even if weeks had passed since she'd been here.

Kylo found himself in the small room deep within the Temple's underground; it filled with her and he hesitated before the small fire that had once been there. It felt easy to flow with the haze, to follow it, to embrace it as if it were Rey. He felt it slip through him, not avoiding him and perhaps that was the bond. Like calling to like.

Her Force signature was so poignant and defined, even when over the weeks it had been getting fuzzed by time, by distance. Here, it was almost like being next to her and Kylo found himself cruelly comforted by it. The gentle aura was enough.

Kylo came back to himself, sucking in a breath and opening his eyes.

It was solid in his mind then. At least for the moment he felt that he could stretch out towards the skies, reaching past the unknown regions, and to Rey. Even with the bond there still simmering within the corner of his mind, this link, this tether he had found, it seemed stronger, and he wondered if Rey felt it too.

He'd follow it, however. That feeling. He'd follow it across the galaxy.

* * *

 **Sorry for missing last week! Thanks for reading :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

* * *

Mar travelled silently, jumping from hyperspace lane to hyperspace lane and constantly listening, feeling out for a familiar tug, like the one that still held the water canteen's attention. The last time he had used psychometry for tracking, he had still been a boy on Kiffu, and even if he had been proficient at it, inaction made his senses lethargic.

Mar closed his eyes, slipping the object from hand to hand, taking in the images.

When he'd first touched the canteen, he'd seen the ship she flew — an ancient Nimbus-class V-Wing — and she'd flown from a planet with an immense forest. The faces he had seen; mostly human, male and female, and those who had also touched the object were clearer to him. Mar concentrated on those faces, those images.

As he sorted through them while shooting through space— almost half in meditation— he caught glimpses of faces he'd seen on First Order Wanted posters throughout the Outer Rim. Poe Dameron; the pilot whose death tally was likely in the hundreds of thousands by now. Despite the First Order's attempts to keep it quiet, the fact that he'd escaped their custody aided by one of their own Stormtroopers was a rumour that stretched from the Unknown regions to the Inner Rim.

Then there was the Wookiee. Mar assumed it was the same Wookiee that Kylo had spoken about when he was still Ben. His father's partner in crime who had been more of a dad than his actual father ever had been. From the glimpses of memory Mar could grasp, it seemed the same could be said for the Wookiee's relationship with the girl.

Her name was on the tip of his tongue as he barrelled through the memories linked to the canteen. Half-syllables and noiseless mouth movements, until he dropped onto one more familiar face: General Leia Organa's.

The mother that Kylo could never deny.

Among the flickers of images, the general had smiled warmly at the young Jedi. A depth of understanding in her brown eyes that Mar knew well. He knew those eyes, because they were Kylo's too.

 _The beacon will always be on, we will always be waiting for you… Rey._

Rey.

Yes. The Force almost hummed in approval as Mar said her name aloud.

He smiled briefly, his hand tightening on the object in his hands. If there was a beacon then all Mar had to do was find its twin to find the Jedi.

Mar took out his datapad, inputting small details of what he had seen: the types of trees the forest held, the large shelter that the Resistance were holed up in, with machinery that was over thirty years old. It wouldn't have been a surprise if they were utilising an abandoned Resistance base, the question was simply, which one?

 **XxX**

Kylo blindly made his way back to the TIE-fighter, moving obstacles out of his way in order to keep that link to Rey alive and awake in his mind. Ice gnawed at his fingers through his leather gloves as he pulled himself across the roughened landscape, taking a beeline over ridges rather than returning the way he had come.

He was out of Ilum's atmosphere within minutes of climbing back into the TIE-fighter, closing his eyes and letting his own soul, his own connection to the Force guide him. The light purple energy he had been following was quickly evaporating, and even as he prepped the ship for his hyperspace jump, he felt the solidity of the connection fade, until it was just him and the gentle presence of Rey at the corner of his mind. Like a hand on glass; visible, yet separate.

His eyes closed, seething and reigning in his frustration to anything but anger, especially in the tiny cockpit of the starfighter. Kylo had known when Rey had been on Arkanis, and he had an inkling that she was no longer there.

Flicking open the navigational panel, his eyes dragged over the streams of data in front of him; at the star maps that charted most of the known galaxy.

Trying to feed off his connection to her, he took steady breaths as his gloved hand fingered the controls, wishing that Rey would willingly tell him where she was. That she could accept what the Force wanted for them both.

Deciding on a whim, he punched in coordinates for the Core worlds, hoping that docking in Coruscant would give him some further clarity. As the planet was still under New Republic control, it granted him a semblance of anonymity that he would not take for granted. Even if Hux had taken it upon himself to dismantle the New Republic, they still had strongholds within the Mid Rim.

Yet Kylo was still filled with some trepidation as he launched into hyperspace. If Hux had been behind the murders on Chandrila, it wouldn't have surprised Kylo if more New Republic murders sprung up elsewhere in the Core worlds, and if that were the case, the Resistance would be the least of his problems.

 **XxX**

It took Mar a day and a short stop for refuelling in Hutt Space to knock his selection of planets down to four, not risking removing any planets 'presumed destroyed' or 'presumed uninhabitable'. His years working adjacent to the First Order meant he was fully aware of how much the Resistance were capable of. And even when they had been knocked off their feet, they always found a way to drag themselves back up. To some level, Mar respected their tenacity.

As his mind roved over the four planets in front of him, he turned the canteen in his hand, trying to get into the mind of General Organa and thinking of the kind of distances they could have travelled after the almost annihilation of their entire enterprise on Crait.

Asher III. Cardooine. Ahlenn. Barkhesh.

The constant exercising of his psychometry meant he was falling back into the ease of using it, and Mar smiled as he settled into the images and memories flowing through the objects around him. There were times when he could even smell the memories, taste the Force's presence on each moment.

He knew a lot more about Rey because of it. Or perhaps it made more sense to contemplate that he knew a lot more about her place within the Force: How the Force revelled when she channelled it, felt alive when her heart was racing. But what Mar found the most interesting, was the moments when Rey was alone. When there was quiet besides the steady beat of her own heart, when the Force hummed gently; a sirens song that Rey followed it each time.

Mar had no idea what it was. Hadn't experience it himself, yet the Force seemed to call to Rey in a way he'd never seen before. Even with Kylo, the Force wasn't so calm. It was erratic, and Mar had always considered that perhaps that was why Kylo was the way he was. His irregularities even made the Force around him strange and off-beat. As if he were off-kilter and the Force was always trying to correct him but failed every time.

The thought creased his brow and Mar realised that he hadn't read Kylo in months, maybe even years. How he was studying Rey currently through this object, was something he hadn't done to any of his fellow Knights in a very long time. Perhaps because nothing ever used to change.

His mind drifted through the canteen's potent memories again, and he settled on another conversation with General Organa. He enjoyed listening to her speak. It was different when she addressed Rey alone; warm and motherly.

 _Do not take the blame for Ben not following you._

His thoughts halted immediately, and he dropped the canteen, removing his feet from up on the pilot's consul and staring down at the metal rolling beneath his feet. Mar shook his head, trying to figure out whether he had heard wrong, or he had projected something from his own mind. However, that voice…it wasn't his own. It was the General's.

Swallowing, he reached for the canteen, but his fingers merely glanced against it and he sat up once more, his eyes focused on the viewport.

Ben.

His mother still called him Ben. But it was the fact that she'd said the name to Rey, as if it were familiar between them. How did the woman who butchered Snoke and his guards leave the scene with even Kylo's name in her memory?

Mar swallowed, distracting himself by looking over at the names of the four planets again.

Ahlenn. Its craters and jungles and destroyed base seemed a reasonable choice.

Even as he made his decision, his mind roved continuously over Leia's words.

Following her? To where? To what end? Had Rey tried to take Kylo prisoner after killing Snoke?

He was already in hyperspace when his head began to ache, and he rested his head on the consul, trying to clear his mind. Suddenly, it wasn't so easy to release the memories simmering within his skull.

 **XxX**

Strangely, over the past few days, Rey had quickly settled into being in Coronet City, and despite Obi-Wan not appearing again, she had resolved herself to staying on the planet for a little longer. The old ghost mentioning that this was where Han had lived once had Rey hesitating in her ship, hesitating long enough that she had found a docking station for the night and the nights that followed.

The city itself was just as noisy as Rey had expected. It was the loudest and busiest place she had ever been, and Rey took in the life that teamed around her. It was almost overwhelming to meditate here while feeling the lives of so many around her. The fear that something like Starkiller could so easily wipe out a planet, a system even, of this many people, was constantly on her mind and the thought hardened her resolve. If what Kylo—what the First Order was doing right now was genocide, then who would be next? Where would they stop?

Her fingers absently grazed the cool metal of the beacon that remained on her wrist, a simple reminder that even if she was reluctant to return – fearing that Kylo was close behind her – it was important that she did.

Despite the din of Coronet City, the noise of the day was different from that at night. It wasn't a kind city, Rey knew as much, particularly considering the Corellians who constantly tried to sell their wares; artificial and flesh alike. She'd almost been dragged into a dingy casino by a shifty-looking Toydarian and was only able to dissuade him with an elbow to the nose.

Even then, Coronet city was something familiar. In some ways, Jakku was a microcosm for this kind of place, and just like Jakku, the hills weren't far. The only difference being that here they were grass and there they had been sand.

The sea breeze blew through the loose tendrils of hair at her temples and she sighed softly. She revelled in the coolness of the wind, as the chaotic shipyards below only made the warm climate more unbearable.

When Rey turned to make her way back down the hill to return to the room she had rented within the heart of the city, she was met with the expansive and expressive back of Kylo Ren, his attention fixed on the lightsaber in his hands.

Rey readied herself, taking a breath as he turned around; alert to her appearance, despite the passivity of his expression.

'Hello,' he murmured.

She was silent as she looked at him carefully.

'Rey.'

'I would prefer if you didn't say my name,' she said flatly, brow furrowing.

He closed his eyes for a moment before meeting her glare, his expression open—far too open. 'Thank you,' he began. 'For Vardos.'

The words left Rey in silence and she just stared at the man, somehow believing that perhaps she was hallucinating after all. That from the start this Force bond had been a product of her own nightmares.

'I didn't know, so thank you.'

'Are you sure that is something you should be admitting to your enemy?'

Kylo's lips lifted into a shadow of a wry smile. 'You are not my enemy.'

'Will I have to kill you to prove it?'

His eyes dipped, and Rey watched him swallow, tongue slipping out to lick his lips. 'Would you?' He asked, voice low. 'Would you kill me?'

Rey nodded automatically. It didn't matter if every part of her was screaming no.

'Would you not kill me?' she questioned in return.

He tilted his head, assessing her in silence. 'I had my chance, didn't I?'

And he had. Rey could have almost forgotten that part, if it weren't for the scar on her arm that reminded her daily of what had happened in that Throne room. And even more than that, it reminded her of what she had done, what she had wanted.

'It's not too late, Rey,' he murmured. 'The Force calls us together, so why do you resist it?'

Rey snorted, folding her arms across her. 'It could very well be calling us into battle.'

'I don't want that.'

She was shaken by the abruptness of his statement, by the simmering rage that settled behind his eyes and the fact that the weapon he had held so tightly in his hands, was cast to the side, thrown in irritation.

He approached her, and Rey didn't move, she only watched him, her breathing growing shallow as he drew closer.

'Please, don't.' The words slipped from her mouth. Weak words. Submissive words.

Though he stopped all the same, still holding her gaze, even when they stood a metre apart. 'Are you scared that it'll be different or the same?' He inquired. 'That when we touch, nothing will have changed.'

'It changed the moment you asked me to—'

'—What if that's not important anymore?' He interrupted. 'If its not what I want?'

He trudged towards her and Rey held her breath before he was gone. Like wisps of wind, gently blowing her clothes with the abandoned momentum of his approach.

It felt like a punch to the gut and she bent forward, suddenly feeling like her skin was exposed, that she was left to the elements and everywhere the world touched, burned. The tears were cold on her burning cheeks and she clung onto the memory of Chewbacca's comforting embrace, trying yet again to fight the part of her soul that fought for Kylo, that wanted to save him.

An hour may have past before Rey had the will to move from her place hunched on the hillside.

She slowly made her way through the busy streets until she decided on the cantina beneath the inn she was staying in. Rey sighed as she settled into a chair at the bar, waving down the bartender and asking for a glass of Corellian wine and a plate of whatever was going.

She felt hollow, even after hours of trying to leech whatever strength she could from the soil beneath her while she had cried. It was like she'd been wrung out and her heart ached with her willing resistance to everything Kylo said to her, and everything she tried the most to push away.

It couldn't matter if he changed his mind, because what had happened was the past already. The past couldn't be changed, and because of that, she couldn't see him differently, she wouldn't.

She took up the fork, spearing several cubes of jogan fruit and forcing them into her mouth, having to chew wide and for a long while before the food was manageable to swallow.

'It's easy to choke like that.'

Her eyes glanced to the man who had slid silently onto the stool beside her, already with a glass of whiskey in his hand and the other curled into a fist on the bar. Rey looked him over briefly, noting the yellow tattoos on his face, and the dark dreadlocks that were tied on the top of his head. She could sense something else about him but was not sure exactly what it was.

'At least I'd die with a full stomach.'

He smirked and sipped at the drink before turning briefly to her, his hand held out. 'I'm Mar. I've been looking for you Rey.'

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

Perhaps if the last week had been different, Rey would have stood up from her stool, slammed her staff into the man's head and took off running. Yet Rey couldn't think of doing anything other than laughing.

Had Kylo really sent someone after her, after all? The thought was extremely amusing, and Rey merely looked over at whoever this Mar person was with a smirk, her beverage against her lips as she looked him up and down.

 **18 Hours Earlier**

Mar checked the knives strapped to his ankle and bandolier, his brow furrowing at the flail still tucked into one of his bags. Knives he could hide, perhaps even a sword, but his flail was too large a thing to bring along when he planned on sneaking into an enemy base.

He huffed, lifting Jojen's vibrosword and dropping it back down, before deciding on strapping it across his back and beneath the jacket he had brought along with him. His usual black fighting gear was likely too conspicuous, so Mar had opted for a pair of dark brown trousers, a loose beige shirt, and a hooded jacket that hid most of the weaponry strapped across his body. It was unlikely that he'd need it, but Mar was always one to take precautions.

The plan to infiltrate the base was slapdash and seeped with far more cracks than Mar wanted to think about. It relied on not being spotted, and if he were spotted, it then fell to his ability to dissuade any who looked at him from approaching and enquiring further. Mar had very little use or practice in Mind Tricks, so he was filled with doubt that it would go on without issue.

While he finished dressing, gazing out at Ahlenn from the sizable distance from the planet's atmosphere, Mar considered that his biggest issue was getting the beacon, which seemed to be a wrist accessory to the young Jedi's friends.

His best bet was night and Mar prayed to every Kiffar ancestor he had that he could be stealthy.

Sifting through his bag one last time, he set his coordinates for a steady landing on one of the planet's larger craters, hoping that the Resistance weren't monitoring the entire atmosphere, particularly for a shuttle as small as his.

It was a two-hour hike to the base itself and Mar set off immediately, using the thrum of life as an indicator for his directions, trying to practice his own channelling of the Force as he trudged on.

When his eyes eventually settled upon the structure carved into the base of a mountain, dragging his feet over the cracked tarmac, he was thankful to feel that a general slumber settled over the people within.

His eyes narrowed on the light freighter sat outside of the structure and he paused, finding some memory of it familiar, but not settling on what. Whether the memory had been one of his own, Rey's or even Kylo's, he wasn't quite sure.

Finding the beacon itself would be a chore, particularly because it was cloaked binary beacon, made for the specific purpose of not exposing the position of the wearer by external forces. He grit his teeth as he passed the dish shaped ship and settled his shoulders as he entered the base, nodding to two guards whose eyes passed casually over him. Mar suspected that if a new face had not unsettled them, it was likely that the Resistance's numbers were growing again.

There were a few people milling about the hanger bay, though there was a general silence with not even engineers were working on the ancient machinery. As Mar walked through, his fingers glided along the hard metal of the objects and ships he passed, trying to get quick reads, deducing where the transmitter bracelet could possibly be.

'Hey, are you lost?'

Mar turned to see an older man peering up at him, a wrench in his hands.

'Looking for a friend,' Mar responded easily, relaxing his features and looking as innocent as was possible for him.

The man narrowed his eyes. 'You look familiar.'

'I hope so, I've been here for a week,' he answered, scratching his head.

'From Vardos?'

Mar nodded. 'You need to go back to what you were doing.' He murmured, tainting his words with persuasion.

The man paused, though repeated the words and turned from Mar, leaving the Kiffar to retreat to a more shadowed area of the hanger as he began to make his way through the caverns within the mountain side.

Voices and the smell of food drifted from one corridor, and Mar was ready to skip it, before he realised the voices were familiar and he turned back, peering into the double doors of the cafeteria.

A group of humans sat inside nursing glasses of liquor, a general unease stewing in the air around them. He'd seen all their faces before, knew their names even and Mar settled himself into his position eavesdropping by the door, gathering the shadows around him to distract away from him as he listened.

'When do you think she'll be back?' A young woman with her hair tied away from her face said – Rose.

FN-2187 – the ex-stormtrooper rubbed his temples. 'I don't know, sometimes I think she doesn't want to come back. Like there's something keeping her away.'

'Leia gave Rey permission to go for as long as she needs,' a young female officer murmured. Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix. She reached between them for a chandad and chewed on it slowly. 'If you're so worried, you should ask Rey.'

The pilot – Poe – leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. 'I don't know, I think we should just let her do whatever she is doing. It's not like we understand it anyway.'

'Don't you think we need her here?' Finn questioned. Rose rested her chin on his hunched shoulder, a hand massaging the opposite shoulder through his jacket.

'I think she'd say that we're doing just fine without her,' Poe commented, a grin forming. 'We liberated Ruusan, didn't we? And we've had over a hundred refugees already coming in from Vardos. You can't say we haven't done anything.'

Kaydel sighed softly, nudging Finn's arm slightly. 'We've been fighting for a long time, the Resistance is scrappy, we'll get on fine without her.'

Finn turned the beacon over in his hand, looking at the gentle flashing blue light.

'I just can't help but feel that there is something she hasn't told us, to save us the pain maybe.'

Rose sat up and smiled warmly. 'I think all we can do is give her our support. Poe is right, we have no idea what she is going through right now, so we should just be understanding. Anyway, isn't she on a mission?'

'Less a mission, more like a side-activity?' Kaydel answered, scratching her chin. 'She's our intelligence, so I'm sure she'll check in soon enough.'

Finn sighed and straightened, dropping the beacon onto the table. 'She was in Arkanis a few days ago. Maybe she's still in the outer rim?'

'You know you're more than welcome to check up on her.' Rose nudged him in the side with her elbow. 'Do you want me to set it up for you?'

'It'd be good to see where she is, we can make sure she gets some good whiskey if she's in the Core.' Poe stated, downing his drink and standing.

Kaydel snorted. 'You really have a one-track mind, Poe Dameron.'

'That's Commander Dameron to you, Lieutenant.'

Poe moved off, narrowly avoiding a kick Kaydel aimed at him. Finn and Rose followed after them, Finn reaching for the beacon and pulling it over his wrist.

Mar moved from the door, taking to the shadows as the group exited. His eyes narrowed in on the beacon in Finn's hands and he followed the group from a distance, thankful that much of the lighting seemed to come from the openings carved into the mountain-side.

They eventually stopped at a communications consul off the hanger bay, private enough to not share their activities with those still awake, but central enough that Mar had no choice but to linger in the open, pretending to occupy himself with menial work.

Rose took the beacon from Finn and placed it on the consul, taking her time to zone in on its frequency and then set out a search for the beacon's twin. It took several minutes before there was a sharp ringing sound. The young engineer's fingers moved across the keypad and star maps appeared in front of them, zooming in and moving until there was a red dot lingering within the Inner Rim.

Mar narrowed his eyes, clearing his vision until the navigational charts stopped moving, and Rose's hands went to her hips.

'Corellia.' She said.

Poe grinned, clapping his hands. 'Fantastic. Finn, tell Rey to bring back a crate of Corellia's finest whiskey when you next talk, she owes me anyway.'

The commander slinked off almost immediately, eyes brushing over and past Mar.

'You think Rey is just living it up in the casinos?' Kaydel mused.

Rose chuckled. 'What do you think Finn?' she asked, taking up the beacon and manually pulling it over Finn's wrist.

Finn was still staring at the blinking red light, seeming deep in thought. Mar could smell the anxiety on him and he was somewhat surprised by the intensity of the man. It was clear that the ex-stormtrooper was very different from the people around him, and the extent to which he cared about Rey made the Knight make sure to tuck that piece of information away for later inspection.

Mar quickly moved away from his position in the hanger, sensing eyes on him again. He began to walk, keeping his pace casual as he started for the hanger door again.

Night was still by his side as he left, slipping out from the base with little attention and keeping as close to the forest's entrance as he went. Mar paused at the freighter again, trying to resist going in and exploring, but his sheer curiosity winning out.

He reached the entrance ramp and felt out with the Force for whatever life could possibly be on it. Feeling a single lifeform, he hesitated at the entrance, his hand against the hull. Mar frowned, backing up, knowing that he would not be able to hide himself if whoever was inside were to wake. He would not have a good enough excuse. It was with reluctance that he stepped back, knowing that he was leaving behind vital information.

The walk back to his shuttle was spent trying to convince himself that knowing where Rey was, was enough. If Kylo didn't even know where she was, then Mar already had the upper hand.

Mar set his route into the computer, navigating his trip through the quickest hyperspace lanes and giving himself six hours to get to Corellia. He knew her Force signature, he knew she had to be noticeably powerful with the Force and thanks to his ancestors, he could at least find her with that information alone.

It was only a question of what he would say to her. The truth or not.

 **Now**

 _'I'm Mar. I've been looking for you Rey.'_

Once Rey's laughter had settled and she'd taken a long drink of her wine, she squared her shoulders and looked directly at the man. At the yellow tattoos indicating that he was from Kiffu, though from which tribe, she did not know. Then she looked to his eyes, and they seemed guarded – secret keepers, almost.

'Is that so?' she eventually said.

His expression remained filled with amusement, and by the smirk that stayed fixed on his lips, it seemed very clear to Rey suddenly that he was in his element. She didn't have to guess that he was like her – a Force sensitive – and she was interested to know exactly what he wanted with her.

'You were exceptionally difficult to find, even for me,' he added.

Rey nodded her head, reaching for a cube of fruit on her plate. 'In order to do what exactly?'

His hand was still stretched out in front of him for her to take and Rey looked down at it briefly before looking back up into his face. He was patiently waiting, and the Force hummed around them, as if waiting for something to happen.

Mar's hand eventually dropped, and he turned to face her fully, swivelling on the bar stool. Rey didn't miss the flail that was attached to his belt, nor the knife holster at his ankle. She narrowed her eyes and he raised his hands up, as if trying to indicate that he wasn't here to kill or kidnap her on behalf of Kylo.

'I have no plans on fighting you, I just wanted to talk,' he began.

'How am I supposed to believe that?'

'Search your feelings if you must, though I'd much rather drink with you than fight you.'

Rey frowned and hesitated when the man reached into his jacket pocket, her reaching automatically for the staff that she had foolishly left in the V-Wing.

He pulled out a small disc of gold and Rey relaxed somewhat as he held it out to her. She narrowed her eyes at it, but took it from his hand anyway, flipping it over to reveal the Jedi Order insignia etched into the metal. Her thumb ran over it and then she looked at the back again and Skywalker was engraved in Aurebesh, along with the man's name.

'What is this?'

Mar smiled wryly and reached for his drink. 'A token from when I was a pupil of Luke Skywalkers.'

'That's not possible,' she responded sharply, leaning away from him. 'His students were all killed.'

He swallowed and nodded. 'Not me,' he answered. 'And you know that there were others who weren't killed either.'

'What are you trying to do here?'

'I'm trying to make an ally. Trying to help you,' he answered deftly. He sighed gently and drank back the rest of his whiskey. 'I am not seeking your trust, nor your power, I just want to help you. I want to…I want to finally stop what Luke couldn't prevent.'

'Kylo?' she questioned lowly.

'Ben — the First Order. To leave it in ashes.'

Rey met his gaze steadily, eyes passing between his. Trying to read his dishonesty, trying to understand why not, and why her. Mar met her stare with equal vigour, leaving Rey with more questions than answers. The man was intense with what Rey assumed was desperation in his eyes. He wanted her to believe his words.

He knew something, that much was clear at the very least.

His hand reached into his jacket again and Rey knew that the object he was removing was a lightsaber before he had even placed it into her hands.

'I've not made a lifetime of good decisions, but I think this one is. I think that this is the path that I need to take, and I think that the Force is leading me to you.'

'I can't just trust you.' Even so, her eyes and hands turned the weapon in her hands, knowing by the thrum of the crystal within it, that it was perfectly functional.

Mar smiled at that. 'I don't need you to trust me, I just need you to listen. Naivety is just as much of a crutch as arrogance, and I think at the very least, if you knew more about the Ben back then, perhaps that would help you in your fight against him.'

'What if what you're telling me isn't new information?' Rey asked, placing the lightsaber back into his hands.

Mar paused and his brow furrowed, completely thrown by the question. 'Then there is something I can give you instead.'

The parchment that he removed from an inside pocket – brown with age and use – was wrapped in a protective film and Mar was careful as he removed it. Unfolding the paper, he held it out for Rey.

It was a map of the galaxy, out of date for sure, but Rey could see the swirling stars that made up the Naboo system. Some parts were in red, and a Jedi insignia was drawn over specific planets, while on others, there featured a strange symbol featuring a circle and rays coming off it – almost like a sun emblem, but very different.

'What is this?'

Mar pointed to where they were, Corellia, unadorned with insignia, emblem nor symbol. 'A map, a very old map in fact.'

'A map to what?'

'Jedi and Sith temples,' he answered simply, placing the map into her hands. 'You do not have a weapon, do you?'

Rey frowned, still looking down at the map. Ilum was painted large, with a Jedi insignia over it, and a hyperspace route was mapped from it, leading to a planet called Metellos.

'I know this planet,' she murmured, pointing to Metellos.

Mar looked down and then back up at Rey. 'Perhaps. Nearly a trillion humans live there. On the earth and in the skies.'

'You are giving this to me?' Rey asked, looking up at Mar.

He nodded. 'I see you and I understand now,' he murmured, though did not go on.

Rey was ready to question him, but he stood abruptly and removed a small device from his pocket, placing it on the table in front of Rey. 'I will help you, Rey. I am tired of hiding, I am tired of this life,' he said. 'I want to see my family again, I want this to end.'

It was the first thing he said that Rey didn't find herself second guessing. These words at the very least were honest and Rey knew she was foolish to do so, but she believed him, deciding that if this was the Force's will, then she would follow it through to the end.

Mar turned and left then, not looking back as Rey stayed seated, the map still in her hands and the communicator sitting beside her glass.

* * *

 **Excuse the shortness of the update. I had to cut short to post. Next week will probably be insanely long because of it, since I've fucked up my pacing.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Kylo grimaced as he readied the TIE-fighter for take-off, only briefly glancing back at Coruscant's grandeur as he reached the upper atmosphere. It had been the wrong choice.

He had spent an afternoon meditating, trying to reach out to Rey again; fighting past the roiling temperaments and sheer quantity of souls within the city. Yet he was unsuccessful, leaving the planet unsatisfied, with the skin of his knuckles cracked after punching several walls, and severely denting the hull of the TIE he had arrived on.

He was setting another course for a nearby star system when the TIE-fighter comm went off, and Kylo huffed as he clicked the communication channel open, barely restraining his surprise at seeing Lieutenant Wynn's holographic likeness.

'Supreme Leader,' she bowed her head, her brows firmly steeped in worry.

'What is it Lieutenant?'

'Status report, sir,' she swallowed. 'I don't think you'll like it.'

Kylo took a deep breath, already sensing what the young Lieutenant would say.

'As per your orders, the squadron you dismissed were received at _Supremacy_ seventy-two hours ago, where Captain Nox and I carried out preliminary checks and began to assess what personnel could now be brought back on board.' Lieutenant Wynn blinked and looked briefly behind her, before clearing her throat and continuing. 'General Hux returned twelve hours ago, and he has brought Captain Opan with him—'

It was likely the expression on Kylo's face that halted the Lieutenant from continuing. Rage flowed freely from him at hearing the Captain's name – a Captain that Snoke had sent to the opposite side of the galaxy on a 'reconnaissance' mission months ago, though it was very much just a method of hindering Hux from rising too far.

Captain Tritt Opan had a list of hits that Kylo imagined was longer than the years the Jedi had been in existence. He was efficient and unyielding, and Kylo thought himself a fool for not considering before that the person responsible for the murders on Chandrila was the First Order's—was Hux's best hitman.

The Lieutenant eventually cleared her throat and Kylo's eyes were back on her, suddenly thinking it was rather interesting that the officer was informing him of this. At least he had one First Order officer he could trust.

'What reasoning has he given for returning to the ship?' he asked.

'To perform the same checks that Captain Nox and I performed,' she answered. 'We did inform him, though he wished to complete them again. Supreme Leader…I think it necessary that you come here.'

Kylo was silent for several moments, his eyes glancing down at the datapads he had assembled at the helm in order to make finding Rey a little easier. When he looked back at the Lieutenant, worry still coated her features and he found himself nodding sharply.

'Adjust _Supremacy_ 's navigation to Rakata Prime using my clearance codes, I will be with you in four hours.'

Lieutenant Wynn nodded as Kylo tapped in the codes, sending them over the channel.

'Do not inform the general of my arrival,' his brow furrowed, but he met the Lieutenant's eyes. 'Thank you, Lieutenant.'

She nodded once more, before the channel closed and Kylo was left in the TIE with the weight of his own thoughts his only company.

 **XxX**

Mar's forehead rested on the pilot's controls with the shuttle on auto-pilot, following the navigation back to the Knights. He didn't have the time to meditate, and even then, if he tried, he imagined that at the speed that his thoughts were flying, he wouldn't be able to get settled.

Rey was not as he had expected.

So much so, that he found himself walking back all his preconceptions and having to start over again.

He'd meant it when he said he'd help her. Before he'd arrived on Corellia, Mar'd had every intention of scoping her out, of seeing how she could be of use to him in a singular, one-sided transaction. Yet he'd decided against that at the last moment, and perhaps it was because of what he saw in her eyes. Even beneath the wariness that she felt towards him, there was solid and unmoveable hope. A keen-eyed killer he did not see, nor a woman strong enough to take on even Snoke alone, even if she had the potential for it.

He had put his lightsaber in her hands and she had not taken his offering; she had not threatened him with it, and perhaps that was a testament to the goodness in her. Mar couldn't decide on the correct answer and so he closed his eyes again, trying to visualise her expression, trying to take something from the memory alone. Perhaps it was a mistake that he hadn't left with one of her belongings, yet what more was there? He knew where the Resistance was based, he knew how to find her again if necessary.

Kylo was lying, and Mar could be sure of that now.

Mar had always considered that if they were ever to break free from Snoke, it would take all of them, Kylo included, so forgetting that and believing that a single young woman could do so, especially after knowing the Force for so little time, was a foolish mistake he would not make again.

And despite thinking that knowing the truth would make his path more resolute, it only seemed to confuse Mar more on meeting Rey.

Kylo was lying for her? Why would he lie for his self-proclaimed enemy?

The girl he wanted to kill with his own hands.

And among all other things, that hadn't seemed like a lie at the time.

The proximity indicator went off and Mar reluctantly sat up, pulling the locks he had previously loosened back and tying them into a knot at the top of his head. The shuttle was pulling into dock onto the ship and he sighed, knowing that he couldn't spend any more time considering Rey's intentions. His concentration had to be on extricating the Knights from the First Order. Dealing with Kylo could come after.

The shuttle docked, and he stood, pulling his satchels over his shoulders and waiting for the seal to click into place.

Several moments passed and the doors slid open, Yonduun standing at the entrance with a small frown on his face and a bloody arm.

'What happened?' Mar moved past him, looking down through the chambers of the ship, before dropping his bags into a small compartment beside the shuttle entrance.

The Iktotchi swallowed loud enough for Mar to hear and the Kiffar turned back. Mar could see then that he was decked out in his full armour, double daggers at his hips and a rifle on his back.

'Where have you been?'

'Xhona wouldn't listen, even when I repeated what you said.'

Mar breathed heavily, the potent smell of blood and death filling his nostrils. 'What did Hux ask you to do?'

'The coup is over,' Yonduun responded. There was a weakness in his shoulders as he said it.

'Which coup?' Mar could feel his temper rising, but he resisted as he looked at Yonduun. It was clear that he was not willing to disobey Xhona, and Mar knew he was a fool to have thought overwise.

Yonduun reached for his elbow, pulling his injured arm closer to him. They must not have been here for long, considering he hadn't even applied a compression bandage to the wound.

'The coup on Lothal.'

Mar closed his eyes and wiped a hand down his face.

He hadn't been gone for long. Perhaps not even three standard days, yet Xhona had decided to go against what Kylo had asked. Mar knew that the Supreme Leader would never have ordered them to get involved in another coup.

Yonduun drew closer to Mar, lowering his voice. 'She said that it would only assist Kylo. That if we didn't go, his leadership would be put under scrutiny.'

'Perhaps,' Mar sighed, despite knowing their actions were hindering Kylo more than anything. 'Though surely you must realise that if you are following Hux's orders, you are expressly not following Kylo's? Who do you fear more?'

'Xhona.'

Mar was thrown for a moment, almost immediately bursting out laughing at the transparent ease of Yonduun's words. He hadn't expected it, yet it made sense.

'You weren't here, Mar,' Yonduun added. 'I think even if Kylo were to give us orders, she'd ignore them just on the principle of knowing best.'

The Kiffar nodded in agreement. That was one thing about Xhona that had never changed – her propensity for believing she was always right, even if most of the time she was.

'Is Kem injured?'

Yonduun shook his head. 'Just me. He's sleeping, though.'

Mar nodded and sighed, clutching the man's shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze. 'Let me patch you up, yeah?'

The Iktotchi nodded and they made their way through the ship in silence, eventually reaching the cockpit where Xhona sat, sharpening the blade of her sword.

'Ah, so you've returned then.' Annoyance laced her words.

Mar rolled his eyes. 'I told you that I would. You were supposed to take a break, Xhona. Are you a law unto yourself, now?'

'No rest for the wicked, as they say.'

Mar narrowed his eyes at her, following Yonduun into a seat at the small table behind the pilot's chair. The man had already pulled out the med kit and removed his weapons, jacket and shirt. Mar turned to the injured arm, seeing that a deep gash and burn stretched the length of Yonduun's bicep, from shoulder to elbow. 'Do you plan on telling Kylo?'

'What he needs to know, I will tell him.'

He snorted. 'You aren't Kylo's superior. Have you suddenly deluded yourself into it?'

'You better watch your mouth, Mar.'

Mar glanced at Xhona, and her teeth were bared.

'Does Kylo matter more than us?'

Xhona's eyes snapped to Yonduun, and her expression seemed to soften at the expression on his face. Mar was silent, jaw tightening.

'It's not—.'

'—don't bother,' Yonduun interrupted, turning further away from her.

Mar continued to clean the wound, forcing himself not to look back at Xhona, who sat in silence.

Perhaps that had woken her up to reality.

 **XxX**

Lieutenant Wynn met Kylo in the hanger bay, a datapad in her hand and a squadron of stormtroopers at her back.

It was clear by the lack of fanfare that she had done what he had asked, and kept his arrival quiet, despite ordering the ships movements against Hux's wishes. Kylo was surprised she had succeeded in doing that too.

'Supreme Leader,' she bowed her head. 'Here are updated reports on the deployment of personnel.'

Kylo hesitated as he took the pad from her, hearing some further meaning in her voice. When he looked down at the information, he understood. She had highlighted the movement of stormtroopers beyond what he had ever ordered. One-hundred thousand had been collected from various outposts within the outer regions and sent towards the Lothal sector. It was clear that whoever had done so, had done it to look less suspicious than a mass of troopers being moved from a singular location.

'Thank you, Lieutenant.'

She nodded, and they began to walk, flanked by two other officers as they made their way through the working parts of the ship and towards Kylo's ready room.

'Shall I arrange for you to see the general, sir?'

Kylo looked over his shoulder, sensing a general disorder among the crew that he didn't like. There were too many people on this ship who would follow Hux rather than him.

He nodded. 'That would be best. Send him in, in three hours.'

Lieutenant Wynn cleared her throat and lowered her voice. 'Is there anything further you require? Refreshments?'

Her words were again loaded. Kylo knew the only thing she could have meant by refreshments was poison.

His answer wasn't immediate, but he shook his head. He needed to remove the damage Hux had done to the crew before he killed him, he knew that at the very least.

They stopped, and the door was opened by a trooper for Kylo to step through. They left him to his room, closing the door after him.

Kylo took a deep breath, locking it too.

 **XxX**

Finn and Rose met Rey on the tarmac, both grinning up at her as she jumped down from the V-Wing,her staff trailing behind her.

She didn't get a word in before she was pulled into a tight hug by the two of them and she almost lost the ability to breathe by how hard they were squeezing her. Rey sighed softly, letting the two of them support her tired limbs. She closed her eyes, feeling their lives beating effervescently through the Force, and she grasped onto that vibrance. They were well, they were alive. Everyone was.

'Thank you,' she murmured softly against Rose's hair.

They split apart, and Finn's hand was on her cheek, looking at her intently. 'You look terrible.'

Rey chuckled and straightened up, reaching into the ship and pulling her satchel and staff from it. 'No beating around the bush, then?'

'Let's go get you something to eat,' Rose said brightly, pulling at Rey's arm.

She felt the young engineer's flare of discomfort by the action, though since Rose no longer had the sling on her arm, Rey guessed that she was almost at the finish line of recovery.

Finn took her staff and Rose took her satchel as they both grabbed onto an arm, pulling her towards the bunker. She smiled wryly at the attention, and took several deep breaths, thinking about the map that rested against her sternum. A map she knew would lead to her destiny — a Kyber crystal.

Rey still couldn't understand why Mar had given it to her. In other circumstances, perhaps she would have rejected the gift, yet a part of her trusted him. When she met his eyes, she saw someone who was guarded, someone with as many secrets as she did. Perhaps it was unwise, yet she had very little to rely on now, and if it were so bad, surely Obi-Wan would have made another mystical appearance to ward her off?

She at least hoped.

The Ahlenn base was bustling moreso than when Rey left, so as they entered through the large blast doors, Rey could feel the new souls that had arrived. Intermixed with the Vardos refugees were the returning squadrons, and the hanger was full of ships and fighters that engineers were tirelessly tinkering with.

Rose split from them with a thumbs up to Rey, before joining a Torgruta who had a hydrospanner to the engine of an X-Wing.

Finn grinned when Rey looked over at him, and he nodded his head. 'Looks great, right?' he asked. 'We're prepping for a strike on Athulla. We had word from some First Order spies that the planet is vulnerable, because a portion of the army has been moved off-world. If we can clear out the troops that are there now, we can free a lot of people.'

'Are you going too?'

He nodded. 'I can't sit around here and do nothing.'

Rey smiled and nodded, Finn walking a step in front of her, still holding her staff and satchel: Her worldly possessions.

'Finn,' she murmured lightly.

He turned about, and she grinned, walking into step beside her. When they began down the empty corridor to the canteen, she slipped a hand into her tunic and pulled out the map that had rested in the folds of her tunic. 'I got a lead to where I might be able to find a crystal.'

Finn's smile widened, and he looked over the symbols dotted across the material. 'You've got everything else you need?'

Rey nodded.

'Do I get to take it for a spin first when you finish it?'

She burst out laughing and they walked the final distance to the canteen, both taking seats as C-3PO – who seemed to have taken a shining to working there – greeted them both with 'hearty plates' of food. The other occupants of the canteen did not miss the fact that they were the only ones given table service.

Rey was thankful for the meal, happily stuffing her face with more food than she had eaten in several days. Ever since seeing Kylo on Arkanis, she'd lost her appetite, but being able to share a warm meal with Finn seemed to have sparked it again.

'You should slow down.'

Finn was laughing at her and Rey only smiled with a mouth full of rice.

'I'm glad you're back, Rey.' His tone grew less jovial and Rey straightened as he met her eyes. 'I think when you go, we all get a little nervous.' He chuckled. 'Well mostly me, but you know that I'm happy to listen to anything you have to say, right? Even if I don't understand what you're doing or why, and there are plenty of things that you are keeping from me I'm sure, you can still tell me anything.'

Rey smiled and gave him a curt nod. 'I'll try,' she answered.

He seemed satisfied with that, and they continued to eat, Finn making jokes about how messily Rey was eating.

They exited the canteen laughing together, when Rey noticed Leia across the hanger. The general waved at them and Finn took his leave, squeezing Rey into another suffocating hug.

Leia approached rapidly despite her gait being subject to the stick in her grip. She smiled warmly at Rey when she reached and kissed both of her cheeks. 'Walk with me Rey,' she murmured.

They were soon out of the base and walking across the tarmac to the forest at its edge. Leia held resolutely onto Rey's arm and they were silent until they were at the forest's entrance.

'Resistance spies on Chandrila have brought back grave news,' Leia began with a frown. 'Chandrilan leadership is in tatters after a string of murders and all fingers point to the First Order.'

Rey's brow furrowed, and her mouth felt suddenly dry. 'Do you think it was a power grab?'

Leia nodded. 'I can't think of it being anything else, yet it is strange. Spies noted that a First Order ship – the Supreme Leader's in fact – was received in Hanna City almost a week before. It seemed to be on a mission of diplomacy, not war.'

Rey swallowed, closing her eyes and thinking back to Kylo. He had to have been on Chandrila when she had been on Arkanis. When he had so clearly been unaware of the destruction on Vardos. If this wasn't him, it meant his grasp on leadership was failing fast. She didn't know whether this was something good, not if the alternative meant the continued death and destruction to those least capable of defending themselves.

'How?' Rey asked, looking to clarify her thoughts, to line them up in order.

'In their beds while they slept,' Leia answered solemnly.

The young Jedi closed her eyes and shook her head. 'He wouldn't, that couldn't…' Rey answered automatically without remembering how little she truly had told Leia. Leia may not have even known the extent of Ben's trauma where Luke was concerned.

Killing people in their beds? — It wasn't something that Kylo would do, could even order someone else to do, and Rey knew that much, even if she was unsure of his plans or his methods.

'If not him, then who? And why?' Leia questioned.

Rey frowned. 'A rogue officer in the First Order?'

Leia was silent for several moments and rubbed her jaw with her thumb and forefinger. 'If so, it could be linked to the situation with Jinata Security. If the First Order is splintering, we can take advantage of their vulnerability.'

There was a resolution that Rey could read in Leia's eyes as she looked out at the forest and then back at the young Jedi. Rey knew that for the Resistance to even begin to have a fighting chance of ending this war, they had to take risks and use all means available to them. Rey wasn't blind, she knew she was a resource, and she wanted to be used.

'What do you want me to do?'

Leia smiled then, a hand gripping onto Rey's and a wry smile lighting up her features.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Surprisingly, the length didn't get out of hand! I must have been worrying myself for nothing.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

Leia considered Rey for several moments before gesturing with her head towards the falcon. Their pace slowed, and Rey held more tightly onto her bag and staff – all strung onto one shoulder – the opposite arm still being held by the general.

Rey went up the entrance slope first, holding the sliding door open for Leia before slipping in behind her.

Leia was already half way across the ship once the door closed, sitting at the lounge seat and tucking herself in so that Rey could sit beside her.

They could heard the sound of Chewie distantly grumbling and working on something, and Rey felt comforted by the Wookiee's presence as she leaned her staff against a wall and placed her bag on the floor.

'There's something that I want you to do, and of course you can say no, but I ask you because I think you're the only one able to do it.'

Rey nodded slowly, trying to perhaps predict what the general was going to say, though coming up empty.

'You are leaving to finish your lightsaber?'

She nodded once more.

'I'd like you to go somewhere afterwards. Poe will give you the details, but to put it simply, this would be a covert operation. Our faces are too well known throughout the galaxy, but yours isn't. This job would require not only your Force wielding skills, but your ability to lay low.'

'Is it related to Chandrila?'

Leia nodded solemnly. 'Chandrila has shown us that the First Order are not stopping at space warfare, and are willing to carry out high-profile assassinations, regardless of the possible repercussions. This is just as important as us taking the fight to them, as we can't allow any more of Republic leadership to be killed nor dismantled.'

Rey was silent, turning Leia's words over in her mind as the general continued.

'What our intelligence has found is the First Order's next target. If we can't stop them, if we can't find who is committing these atrocities, it won't just be the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions under First Order control.'

Leia stood, holding fast to her walking stick.

'I trust you, Rey. With everything I have. I will not hold it against you if you say no, just know that. Poe will hear your answer, and if you choose to go, your orders.'

The woman gave her one last nod, before exiting the ship, leaving Rey to mull over what possible instruction Poe would give her.

It must have been thirty minutes more, when Rey was on the cusp of sleep, her feet up on the pilot's consul, she heard a soft knocking on the door frame behind her. When she turned, Poe was peering inside and Rey smiled over at him as he entered, sitting beside her and looking out through the viewport at the forest outside.

'Here to give me a hard time about the whiskey?' she questioned with a wry smile.

He snorted. 'Despite my disappointment in you not providing us with quality booze, no.'

Rey tilted her head, looking over at Poe. The man looked wary and Rey wasn't blind to the tumultuous energy radiating from him.

'You're going to finish the lightsaber, aren't you?'

She nodded, waiting for the rest.

'I think I know where I can find a crystal, and I have everything else. Why are you asking?'

'Leia's detour,' he murmured, scratching the back of his head. 'On Resistance business.' Poe shook his head and leaned against his elbow on the helm. 'You know, I'm going to be honest. I don't like this at all, you're not…this is dangerous.'

Rey smiled. 'I'm sure I'm capable of protecting myself. I'm just as much a member of the Resistance as you are.'

Poe shook his head. 'It's not the same. I've had time, there are plenty of us that have had time. You were thrown into this, you've been thrown into everything and you haven't even had the chance to look back.'

Her eyes drifted from his then and back to the viewport, her sight scanning the tree tops for the little birds she saw singing most mornings. 'There's nothing to look back at, Poe,' she answered, her lips tilting into a small, reluctant smile. 'The past is…the past is something that I can't let shape my future any longer.'

'Is it that easy?' Poe questioned.

Rey glanced back at him, and there was a darkness in his features, a heavy reluctance. Her eyes narrowed, trying to read him. She didn't know Poe as well as she knew Finn. Though Finn always painted Poe with rose-tinted glasses, often speaking of his accomplishments and not his failures.

Poe was looking at her like she had already failed, and that it was he who would have to carry the burden of guilt.

'You are not sending me into danger without my knowledge, Poe. I'm agreeing to…whatever it is you want me to do. I know the risks, I'm prepared for the risks.'

His brow continued to furrow. 'That's easy to say now.'

Rey huffed. 'If I don't keep my eyes forward, I'll only be hurt in the end,' she said simply, leaving no room for any more questions from the pilot.

They did not share words for several moments, the two of them breathing the recycled air in and out for a few seconds more, before Poe eventually sighed heavily and slumped in the chair.

'Fine.' He started. 'Leia wants this under wraps,' he continued as he reached into his utility belt, removing a flight key. 'There's an X-Wing, a new model we just got, about two miles west through the forest. It's stocked and fuelled already. You need to fly it to Naboo.'

'Naboo?' While Rey had never been there before, she was under the impression that the planet was a Republic stronghold. Had been since Padme Amidala – Leia's mother – had been queen. Of all the planets in the Mid Rim, she thought it didn't need protecting.

'We've heard word that the queen is a target. Just like with Chandrila.'

Rey nodded. _Of course_.

'My orders?'

'The queen will expect you in three days as an envoy—'

'—Leia wants me to weed out the assassin?'

Poe nodded, swallowing. 'I don't feel good asking you to do it. I suggested we take a squadron there, warn the queen, but Leia says this is the only way.'

'If we warn her, there's a chance the assassin will know of our knowledge, will root out our spy. If I'm just a visitor…they will not know any better.'

Though the commander was still frowning, he nodded.

Rey took a breath. 'I will go.'

'I don't like this, Rey.'

She smiled and slid out of the chair, patting Poe's shoulder. 'Don't worry so much, Poe. It will work out in the end, I know it.'

'I know you don't have the ability to see the future, Rey,' he said after her, making Rey giggle briefly to herself.

'I'll see you later, I'm going to meditate and see Chewbacca before I leave.'

Rey heard Poe huff as she continued down the hall towards the sounds of the Wookiee's tinkering.

 **XxX**

There was only a brief knock at the door before Hux slipped inside, a smirk firmly fixed on his face and a dip in his brow.

'You summoned me, Supreme Leader?'

'Why are you here?'

Despite the sudden question, Hux did not even blink. The anger that had been building within Kylo grew tighter in his chest, and his hands shook with the desire to strangle the man standing before him.

'I finished my other duties, and as you had requested, I had _Supremacy_ up and running within two months and sought to do the preliminary checks myself. I had expected to complete them before your arrival.' There was a tightness in his jaw as he spoke, despite the reverence he seemed to use in his tone.

'I will give you this one chance, general. I will let you explain your conduct over the last few months and then decide my actions.'

Hux blinked, feigning innocence. 'Sir, I do not know what you could possibly mean. I returned to my station on Attera Alpha as you asked and have done as you asked with _Supremacy_.'

'Then why is Jinata Security in tatters and why are refugees from Vardos scattered in the wind, general? Unless you are suggesting that you were not involved at all?'

'Those matters are all included in my officer's log,' Hux responded simply. 'I heard of the coup on Vardos due to the Protectorate Gleb's death, so I set a battalion to the planet. As you know, it was already rather bloody and our forces aided in clearing it all up.'

Kylo's jaw strained but Hux continued.

'This is for the benefit of the First Order, Supreme Leader. If we allow the riff raff to continue to grow in numbers, to continue to go against our doctrine, we will lose whatever semblance of strength we have in the galaxy at present. Would you rather me do nothing and we lose our power?'

He growled in annoyance, closing his eyes. If he were to go against what Hux had done on behalf of the First Order — for the First Order, it would seem as if Kylo was a poor leader. It was the principle of Hux not following Kylo's orders and secretly manipulating his armies. With that kind of enemy under his nose, the Resistance was irrelevant to Kylo.

'What do you intend on doing, general?' the Supreme Leader asked, exhausted.

'Well of course we will destroy all who go against us, and that isn't just the Resistance and the Republic now.' Hux straightened and then pulled a datapad from behind his back. 'It is for this reason that I bring the plans for a new weapon – Captain Opan has brought chemical and biological warfare to my attention, and I find it may be the perfect solution to any dissension on First Order aligned planets.'

Kylo swallowed and nodded. 'Send them with your logs.'

Hux's smile grew as he turned from the room, and Kylo could tell from the lay of his shoulders, that the general knew he had the upper hand, and Kylo kicked at the desk in frustration.

Nothing was going to plan. Kylo wasn't blind to Hux's whispers and even when he had walked a sizable length of the repaired _Supremacy_ , he had felt the distrust, the disloyalty from those around him. Hux was turning the First Order against him and there was nothing he could do besides killing the man. And if he did, what would be the true result of that?

Even though he could feel Rey's uncertainty, could feel her resistance, she pushed him further and further away. The frustration overwhelmed him, because she didn't want to be convinced. It wasn't enough that she held a place in the corner of his mind, and because of it, Kylo felt like any purpose he had cultivated was slipping through his fingers.

Kylo settled into his meditation, the tightness of his fists softening on his thighs as he sank into the world around him.

The Force buzzed, stimulated by the thousands on the ship and surrounded by nothing else but the vacuum of space. The nearest planet was several parsecs away and Rey… he couldn't tell.

 **XxX**

Rey opened her eyes, her meditation forgotten as she saw Kylo sitting across from her, mimicking her pose and his eyes still closed. The temptation to reach towards him, especially at their current proximity, was entirely intoxicating and she didn't understand the compulsion.

Seeing him was like a trigger, and regardless of how hell-bent she was on pushing him away, making him the villain in the story, seeing him made it all the more difficult.

There was a give that Rey felt, a falling away of her reluctance as the days had past, and despite how disappointed and angry she should have felt, the emotions seemed tenuous and irrelevant. Perhaps, like the old Jedi tomes had said, passionate emotion was not the Jedi way and only led to Darkness.

Only three hours had passed since Leia had spoken to her about how destabilised the First Order was becoming, that all fingers were pointing to Kylo. Rey thought that perhaps whatever she felt was a delusion, including the supreme desire to save him that still festered within her. Perhaps he truly was beyond redemption, and he was manipulating her, distracting her while the First Order were able to continue their reign of tyranny. That the First Order would kill whoever they wanted in order to breach the galaxy beyond the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions.

Yet Rey knew that it wasn't true. Even though she had no other explanation, all she could feel was his steady beating heart and the honesty of that. The honesty of his life flowing through hers—with hers.

'You seem deep in thought,' he murmured, his eyes still closed as he sat cross-legged.

She nodded, pulling her knees to her and leaning her chin against them. The reluctant acceptance of the situation was not unlike when he had connected with her on D'Qar, when she had felt so utterly cold and alone, Kylo—Ben had been there to offer her comfort, and his words had worked.

The connection they shared was deeper than she wanted to admit, and regardless of where their loyalties lay, its existence meant something. It had been the reason why she had gone to the _Supremacy_ and in the quiet of the small forest enclosure, the thought permeated more strongly. She felt his heart, and he felt hers.

'I have decided to stop denying our bond,' she murmured.

His eyes opened as his brows rose and he looked her over carefully, likely taking in the loose flow of her hair. She had allowed it to grow out, and she had not retied it since her shower, so it dripped lazily over her shoulders in waves, not held away from her face, but left to curtain it as if it were an extra veil of protection.

She pushed the loose hair behind her ears, feeling calm, even under his enquiring gaze. It was not oppressive, and Rey shouldn't have been as surprised as she was by that fact.

'What changed your mind?' he asked.

Rey met his gaze steadily, and even if she didn't want to, she felt the warmth emanate from them. His eyes left her, and he seemed to try and understand her environment, though she knew he could see nothing, just like she could not see anything of his surroundings.

'Where are you?' he asked, and Rey almost laughed at the repetitive question.

'Does it matter?' she questioned. 'Eventually you'll find me, I know that now.'

He seemed to be surprised by her admission, but he nodded anyway. 'It's quiet. Uncomfortably quiet.'

'I am alone,' she responded, adjusting her chin on her knee and sighing.

'You're with me,' he answered, seeming to be slightly offended by her words and Rey really did laugh this time, his eyes falling back to watch her laugh steadily.

'That's not what I meant,' she answered. 'And when you eventually disappear, I will be alone again.'

Kylo shook his head, swallowing. 'I don't think we'll ever truly be alone again,' he responded, knowing that even when he was unable to see Rey, he was able to feel her at every moment.

'Isn't that frightening?' She bit her lip, knowing it was something she didn't want to say out loud as soon as she had said it.

His eyes moved between hers and he seemed to be thinking about her question, not taking her words lightly, even though she had. 'We are both alike, even if you wouldn't want to admit it.'

Rey sighed, closing her eyes again. The thought of their similarities had been why she had reached for him in the first place.

'Whatever you are searching for Rey,' he continued, prompting her to look at him again. 'It's still out there. What I saw when we touched, what Darkness showed you in that mirror is the truth in our reality. You alone are all that matter, your parents are unimportant, it is only you. Only ever you.'

Her chest ached at the thought and she was quiet for several moments, just allowing herself to hear both of their steady breaths.

'Why was it the Darkness that showed me that and not the Light?' Her knees dropped and she bent her legs underneath her, getting closer to Kylo. 'You make it seem like honesty can only come from Darkness.'

'Perhaps because honesty can bring pain?' he murmured, non-committal. 'Perhaps we were all wrong? The Jedi, the Sith, anything in between?'

She'd thought about what Darkness truly was before. When she'd fallen into that cave and been faced against it and hadn't been frightened. Rey had felt as if she were learning an important lesson. Yet the texts dissuaded against Darkness when Rey oftentimes felt like it was her best teacher.

It was as if her barrage of thoughts were felt by Kylo and he frowned, seemingly confused himself and Rey felt some satisfaction in the man suddenly not knowing all the answers.

'If Darkness and Light are two sides of a coin, can Darkness truly be bad if it exists just to counter the other side?'

Kylo took several moments and then he shook his head. 'Darkness is death and decay. A natural ending to everything living, though the Light will always rise to meet it. Where there is decay, there is always new life.'

'It is dark, but it is not evil.'

'I suppose,' he answered, his words drifting off and Rey sensed that this time, it was something that _he_ had not wanted to say.

'You are not very good at this,' she murmured, mirth delicately lightening her tone.

Kylo looked back at her again, his brow furrowed. 'Good at what?'

'Convincing me to abandon the Light. I think you should consider another career.'

He was silent, and Rey couldn't help but chuckle again, rubbing her hands over her face at the utter absurdity of the man in front of her. Even if there were parsecs between them in reality, it didn't feel like it. She could even feel the warmth bleeding from his skin and just like her, his breath crystallised in the frigid air around them.

'Have you finished building your lightsaber yet?'

'No,' she responded quickly, before realising that she had provided him with information she hadn't wanted to. Like a reflex she had answered, and she chided herself, but strangely, Kylo merely smirked.

'I knew I'd catch you eventually.'

Rey straightened and steeled her glare at him. 'If I could strangle you, I would readily do so.'

'You haven't tried before, it may be possible.'

Her glare deepened, as she knew exactly what he was telling her. Their skin touching through the bond would have been the same as it had been before. With them both seeing futures that neither knew would become reality. More food for their own delusions about the allegiances of each other.

Rey sighed and closed her eyes, feeling Kylo disappear almost immediately.

She stood, pulling her satchel over her shoulder and continued her journey through the forest to where Poe had said the X-Wing was left. Her hand slipped into her pocket and she thumbed the communicator that Mar had given her.

Rey's plans were only half-formed. She planned on going to Lothal to search for her Kyber crystal, deciding on a whim, and hoping that it would be fortuitous. A part of her thought that it was Obi-Wan's influence that had her thinking so casually about something of such importance.

Though Rey was growing wearier with how long she had been without a weapon. It had been almost three months since the Skywalker lightsaber had been torn in two, so she could not wait any longer.

Just as Poe had said, the X-Wing was tucked into a break in the forest canopy, mostly hidden by the density of the trees. It was pristine, and Rey's chest twinged at the idea that they had given her this when Resistance resources were so thin.

She pulled herself into the cockpit, pulling on the helmet left in the seat and readied the engines. Rey grabbed for the map, charting her route to Lothal and the Jedi temple that resided within its northern hemisphere.

'Now would be a great time to appear, Obi-Wan,' she murmured, flicking on the remaining switches.

Her wish went unanswered, and Rey sighed as she took off, leaving the atmosphere as quickly as she could, and jumping into hyperspace soon after.

 **XxX**

Mar stretched his arms in the chair, yawning loudly and hearing his spine crack from sleeping and being cramped in an awkward position at the pilot's helm for so long.

When his eyes opened, Kem was staring patiently at him, clearly waiting for him to do or say something.

'The least you could have done was get me a cup of caf,' Mar groaned, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

'Xhona said it would be best to keep my eyes on you,' he answered simply. His blue skin was pallid under the artificial lighting and Mar merely rolled his eyes.

'Sometimes I think that perhaps you're just Xhona's symbiotic parasite.'

'Now that's not very nice, is it?' Xhona swaggered in, dropping her blaster loudly onto the helm before looking over at Mar, who still wiped at his face.

Kem moved to the back of the cockpit, shuffling around with the caf machine. Mar smiled when the Pantoran came back with a steaming mug of the hot beverage and placed it in Mar's hands. 'Thanks, Kem, maybe you're not all bad.'

Xhona rolled her eyes and sat beside Mar, giving him a side-eyed glance.

Mar sipped at his drink, waiting for Xhona to say something. Kem eventually left, likely to work on some failing subsystem on the ship.

'Tell me something, Mar,' she began, her fingers tapping along the piloting yoke.

'Hmmm?' his lips were still on the rim of the mug, blowing at the steam and taking small sips.

'Where is Kylo?'

Mar raised a brow and looked over at her. 'Why don't you ask him? Last I heard, he was on Chandrila.'

'Searching for the girl?'

He was silent, considering that that was a possibility he hadn't thought of. Even though Kylo had said he would deal with Rey himself, Mar had had no idea of how he would find her. Mar imagined there were less leads that their leader could use, and Kylo wasn't skilled in psychometry either.

'Why do you ask? He said he'd deal with her himself.'

'Isn't she too big of a danger to leave to Kylo alone?'

'You think because he's spent so long with us as his muscle that he is incapable of going solo?'

Xhona rolled her eyes before glancing out at the viewport and then back at Mar. 'You're not funny, you know?'

'You used to think I was.'

'That was when I was an idiot girl.'

Mar looked at the ceiling, breathing out and resting his caf on the consul. 'Nobody thought you were an idiot back then, and you know it.'

Her jaw tightened, and her hand squeezed the hilt of the dagger at her hip. Mar looked at it for a moment, before he reached out, touching her hand, and despite her fidgeting against him, he loosened her grip and laid her hand back on her thigh.

'Xhona, it's not necessary to keep things from me.'

'I could say the same to you.'

'I don't want our relationship to get any more messed up than it already is.'

She glared, and Mar sighed. 'Whose fault is that, Mar?'

'Both of ours, and you know it.'

They were both silent for several moments, before Xhona stood abruptly, jostling the cup of caf. 'I'm going to search for the girl. Is that straight forward enough for you? We all are going to search for her, and when we find her, we are going to get everything we can possibly get out of her and then we are going to kill her.'

Mar took a breath, though Xhona continued.

'Whether it's Kylo or us who does it, it doesn't matter. She must be dealt with as soon as possible and I am not fool enough to leave Kylo on his own to do it. This girl is a danger to all of us if she was able to kill Snoke and his guards, so we cannot let the same fate befall us. Is that understood?'

He hesitated, though nodded all the same.

'Say it, Mar,' she said through gritted teeth.

'Yes.'

She turned and left then, leaving Mar feeling as if his head were going to explode with the tension headache that began to draw across his brow.

He drank back the rest of his caf before standing and trudging to the bunk room. Thankfully Kem and Yonduun were elsewhere, or else they would have heard the slight vibration coming from his inner jacket pocket.

Mar closed the door and removed the communicator from his waist and read the message from Kylo across it.

 _Bakura. Six hours._

He put the device away, sighing heavily as he sat on the edge of his cot, his head in his hands.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading folks!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

* * *

Rey removed the map from her satchel, her hand tightening around air, forgetting that she had left her staff behind on Ahlenn.

Lothal wasn't particularly different from the few planets Rey had visited before. She had landed at the base of one of its many mountains, not too far from several small villages, but distant enough that she could easily circumnavigate them. Morning had just arrived, and the wind softly blew through the loose hair at her temples, raising the hairs on her arms with the slight chill, though the sun was enough to keep her warm.

There wasn't any particular direction that Rey had decided on, so she found herself following her instincts, hoping that if there was a crystal out there with her name on it, it would call to her, just like she had read it would in the Jedi texts.

Rey started trudging through the landscape, taking her time despite knowing that she had only three standard days of this. Thankfully Lothal was on a cycle of twelve hours, so the temple was perhaps a day's journey to the north.

The Force on Lothal was similar and different. Different because it seemed as if it wasn't wound as taught as elsewhere. On Ilum, the Force's presence was almost barren, and touch-starved. On Corellia, it was overwhelmed with the quantity of life. While on Lothal, it seemed to move with the breeze; always constant, yet gentle, unassuming. It bolstered Rey and she moved through fields, savannah and marshes with a lightness within her.

Rey imagined what it would be like to live here. If, after everything, when the war was over, when the Resistance finally won, if she could be here, with her own home, where she wouldn't go hungry and she could just live freely. Do as she wished. It was an intoxicating thought, and she embraced the idea of it as she went.

Climbing a smattering of rocks that led uphill to the east, she sighed gently, and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She could feel her heart twist again and she continued climbing, one hand resting against her chest, as if the touch alone could stop the ache.

Rey knew it was Kylo. It wasn't hard to guess that, and ever since admitting to him that she was accepting their bond, she'd felt his presence more noticeably. It felt like his soul was attaching itself to her. Where the pains she had carried over the years had left a serrated edge, he was stitching himself along the rough wound. Rey imagined that eventually when it healed, they wouldn't be able to separate, only scar tissue left to distinguish that they were ever apart, that this wasn't how it always was.

The thought frightened her. Because this admission meant the realisation and the acceptance that this was all inevitable, that this was the Force's plan, regardless of what she wanted.

Rey could blame the tears on the bright sun, but it was only herself here to fool. She wasn't even sure exactly what she was crying for: the loss of her freedom; the lies she had to tell her friends; that her feelings for Kylo couldn't be denied; that what she felt for Kylo was the realest thing in her life.

Stopping abruptly before a cave made from the rock formation she had been climbing over, Rey threw her satchel open and pulled a patch of material from it, laying it on the ground. She sat, sighing gently as she looked over the landscape, and back where she had come from.

The sun was sinking across the blue sky and Rey could see Lothal's two moons begin to make an appearance.

She would make camp here and continue when the sun had risen again.

When Rey stood again to prepare a fire, she wiped hastily at her face, then jumped in fright when a Loth-cat sprinted past her. Her tears were forgotten for a moment as she laughed at herself, watching the cat run deeper within the cave.

 **XxX**

Kylo gripped the controls of the shuttle and his eyes met with the green and blue of Bakura.

He'd had to leave during one of the down-time shifts, disabling the tracker in his shuttle and locking his quarters to avoid detection.

He'd only had to compel a few troopers before reaching the shuttles and it had been a few minutes more before he was in the vacuum of space, shooting towards the nearby planet.

Mar had met him here before, so Kylo bee-lined towards their last meeting place — a cavern two hundred miles from the nearest city; Gesco. While Bakura was connected to Endor and its forest moon by hyperspace route, it was very different. Over sixty million souls lived on the planet and it was the largest commercial hub in Wild Space, making it perfect for staying under the radar.

The knight was sitting on a large rock with a smoothened top, throwing stones into his upturned helmet that sat ten metres away from him. He made every throw, and Kylo watched him from the shuttle's exit platform before he approached once Mar's hands were empty.

'What did you have to say that you couldn't have told me by holo?' Mar asked, glancing up at Kylo.

Even with Mar across from him, Kylo couldn't cross Rey from his mind.

His thoughts had been solely on the words she had said mere hours ago. That she was accepting the bond, and that meant she was accepting him, his presence in her life. Even if Rey said that she would not come to him, would not turn, this meant something.

'I need leverage,' Kylo started.

Mar raised his brows. 'What kind?'

'Find out where the Resistance base is.'

The young knight crossed his legs under him and rubbed at his chin. 'You'd attack them directly?'

'Information is power. You know that Mar,' the Supreme Leader simply responded.

Mar was quiet for several moments, sifting through this information before he tilted his head. 'You would use that information to coax the girl out?' he questioned. 'You think that would work?'

'Absolutely.'

 _You know her that well?_ Mar barely stopped himself from asking the question out loud and he just looked Kylo over carefully.

'So, the others aren't to be involved?' Mar questioned.

Kylo nodded and the Kiffar immediately sighed heavily, receiving a targeted glare.

'Do you not think that if I keep disappearing, they won't ask questions? It is one thing to take a brief diversion or keep the things I find from them, but this is becoming too convoluted, Kylo.'

The man squared his jaw and didn't respond, leaving Mar to groan.

'Are you worried that your loyalties aren't convincing?' he eventually said.

Mar glared. 'My loyalty is to them, and to you, no matter what happens. You cannot manipulate me too, Kylo.'

He barked a laugh and Mar grit his teeth.

'We serve the same purpose, Mar. This doesn't involve the others. This is my mission, this is my aim. I am not asking you to fight my battles, I am asking you to find one stupid planet.'

Mar swallowed and tried to settle the flare of his nostrils. Kylo was irritated with him, and Mar found that suspicious enough. Despite knowing exactly where the Resistance base was, finding it without his skills wouldn't have been a simple task, particularly if Kylo himself had failed to find it already. Perhaps the strangest part was that he wanted to know for leverages sake, and not to send an army there.

'You have two weeks.'

The Kiffar decided not to respond, knowing any reply he could give would have irked Kylo more. Even then, the Supreme Leader waited a moment more before walking back to where he had come from, leaving Mar to sit back down as Kylo departed.

Perhaps he should have told the man about what Xhona was planning, even if Mar himself knew very little of it. Kylo'd probably not kill Xhona, Mar considered, yet that also didn't seem any better.

He groaned loudly and leant back, looking up at the sky.

Mar thought of the girl in question – Rey. All of this triggered by her, and perhaps Mar should have been thankful that this meant change, that something was happening; the tide was changing per se. Mar had always been impressed by the Resistance's resilience, but Rey, she was a gift.

He whistled through his teeth and his eyes caught on Kylo's shuttle as it pulled into the atmosphere.

Mar still didn't know enough about the relationship between Kylo and Rey. It was like trying to grasp steam and if Mar could have, he would have looked into Kylo's mind for the answer. There were gaps in his knowledge and it irked Mar to know that finding out was probably a terrible idea. That his ignorance was probably a blessing.

Pulling himself into a sitting position again, Mar thought through what he would do next. What he did know, above all, was that he needed to speak to Rey again, even if his whole essence was warring against it. Finding out the truth was paramount, even if it seemed the worst idea possible.

 **XxX**

Rey woke squinting, using her hand to block the sun from her eyes as she turned in the small sleeping bag she had brought with her.

She chewed on a small bread roll while she packed her things away and took a long glug of water as she heaved her bag over her shoulder once more, and took off again.

Her decision to head north – closer to the Jedi temple – came to her in her sleep, and Rey thought this was promising.

Having been on Lothal for twelve hours, the planet seemed even more alive than it had the cycle before. Rey put it down as another sign; that her attraction to the planet was the pull of a Kyber crystal.

It was mid-day when she saw the temple in the distance, perhaps fifteen miles ahead.

Rey took brief breaks to eat and drink, though was compelled to continue on, not resting as she drew closer.

She had considered that a crystal may have laid elsewhere on the planet, most likely still within the earth's crust, but it seemed as if it wasn't the case.

She was within five hours of the temple when she began to hear a gentle sound whistle through her ears. Like a note held down on a piano, but the sound not failing as time drew on. It wasn't bothersome and was simply compelling. It was a sound solely for her and Rey grinned at the thought that this was it. She was so close to finishing her lightsaber, and then things would be different, she was sure of it.

Rey sped on, even if her legs felt heavy with walking such a large distance. She had thought she would at least sit for five minutes once she reached the shade of the obelisk shape that the temple took, but Rey rushed inside, following the note.

'Where are you?' she questioned aloud, pulling herself through the empty and derelict hallways of the temple.

She didn't know what she had expected from the Lothal temple, but at the very least, she thought it would have been in a more furthered state of disrepair. Much of the structure remained intact, even if the inside had been ransacked, by both animals and sentient life.

Her fingers grazed the walls as she walked through the caverns, her eyes closed as she listened for the hum of the crystal that called to her. Rey felt her smile grow as she neared it. The song grew stronger as the light dimmed, and she opened her eyes to find she was deep within the catacombs of the temple, very little light able to come through the small square windows in this part of the structure.

It was a small room off the main hallway. It could have been a bedroom, but by the wooden desk that still sat in the corner, Rey imagined that it had been some sort of office. Her sights drew onto the desk and she approached, steeling herself as the song rang in her ears.

It hadn't occurred to her that after all her searching, she would find her crystal in the drawer of a desk, left behind by some Jedi master, perhaps for this very purpose. While there wasn't the grandeur of the tasks that past Jedi padawans had to go through involved, Rey still felt that she had earned it. The thought solidifying as she held the crystal in her hands, feeling the potential energy within it. It was ready to be imbued, it was willing and accepting of her.

Rey considered leaving the temple and finding shelter elsewhere, but by the lack of life in the surrounding areas, she decided to stay instead.

Sifting through her pack to gorge on the rest of her food, Rey set up her scrap of material and folded up her sleeping back so that she could sit on it. She removed the book that she had brought with her – on Crystal imbuing – as well as her lightsaber parts, and she laid them out in front of her as she folded her legs on the cushioned sack.

Rey held the kyber crystal out, her palms facing up as she focused on the clear gem. She took several breaths before dropping her arms, the crystal staying level with her eyes as her hands rested on her knees.

She closed her eyes, feeling the Force gather around her, coming when she called and guiding her, assisting her on the next steps on her path.

It was as easy as breathing.

The Force flowed through her, seeming to gather within her chest for a moment and then reach out in front of her, like curling tendrils. Rey imagined a flower, taking in the light of the sun and reaching out towards it for more. The crystal was a flower and she was the sun, bright and warm, giving the crystal something it did not have: Life.

As the crystal continued to sing, its melody changed and Rey felt her life in that song. It took every part of her – the good and the bad – and imbibed her very soul.

A crystal that was solely hers would be different. There would be no doubt of allegiance. It would go where she willed it and Rey felt relief in that thought. It was what kept her resolute that she could remain constant, that her choices were good choices, that she was following the right path.

Regardless of any affiliation she had with Kylo, no matter what destiny held for them both, this was her path. One drenched in the Force, no matter whether it was Light or Dark, but a track that was solely hers to walk.

When Rey's eyes blinked open, the finished weapon still floating before her, the sun had long since sunk and she was drenched in darkness. She could feel by the gentle movements of the Force around her that it was almost morning, the animals that woke with the dawn beginning to stir.

She'd meditated for almost eight hours and it had felt like less. It had felt like a thought.

Reaching for her bag, she removed her glowrod and lit the room, seeing her lightsaber for the first time.

Rey grinned as she reached for it, turning it over in her hands, feeling the weight of it, and smiling at the gentle rumble of power that lay within it. It seemed to pulse with the beat of her own heart and she held it gently, finding that it felt very much like an extension of her own soul.

While she had tried to follow the schematics of the Skywalker saber, she had taken many creative liberties in the positioning of the emitters, even the positioning of the power switch. The hilt was shorter and slimmer, and her weapon was encased in deep grey durasteel that had been rubbed with an oil which made it shine purple in sunlight.

In the green light of the glowrod, Rey could make out very little of the true makeup of the weapon, so resolved herself to take it outside before she wielded its power for the first time. Rey vibrated in anticipation as she climbed back through the bulk of the building, having to hope that she would eventually find a path that led outside.

The sun was peaking over the horizon once she eventually exited the temple, the monolithic structure rising high behind her, watching her with its looming presence.

There was silence as she pulled the weapon from her belt and held it out in front of her in the dim light. Turning it over once more in her hands, she positioned it, wondering what it would look like, what colour the blade would be. Her thumb drifted over the switch and as she took one more deep breath, she flicked it on, seeing the blade emit instantaneously, glimmering almost as gold as the sun. It was light, it was the colour of the centre of a solar system, the centre of life.

Rey smiled as she looked the blade over, swinging the weapon gently and hearing it hum as she moved with it.

'I did it,' she murmured to herself, almost surprised that she had truly succeeded.

It was minutes before she put the blade away, the sun having stretched further across the sky without her realising, and Rey looked at her navigator, calculating how much time she had before she needed to be in Naboo as she began her way back to the X-Wing.

She wanted to tell Finn, she wanted to show all her friends what she had made.

The lightsaber was more than just a weapon, it was a symbol of hope. It was a sign of better times to come and for the first time, Rey was perhaps sure that those times would come. Leia was right, she had always been right.

Even despite being severely tired and hungry by the time she had made it back to the X-Wing, Rey managed to settle herself quickly, setting in coordinates to Naboo, navigating to avoid Hutt space to the best of her ability.

Despite technically having spent one standard day on Lothal, the lengthy journey from Lothal to Naboo meant she only had twelve hours spare before she needed to present herself as an envoy to the queen.

Rey pushed the X-Wing to its limit – and by the newness of the machine, that limit was exceptionally far, and she managed to make it to Ruusan within seven hours, deciding to stop on the planet to refuel. Rey landed at the first ship port she spotted, and pulling on her cloak, she tucked her lightsaber in tightly against her and left the X-Wing in search of food and a place to sleep for a few hours.

She found a pay-by-the-hour inn very quickly, trying to keep to herself and ignore what the establishment was clearly used for, and that wasn't for a weary traveller to rest their head.

The Toydarian that manned the entrance said he'd send some food up for her when she placed several credits in his hand, and Rey took a key from him, speedily making her way to the room and making quick work of readying herself for her sleep.

It was just as she settled into the worn covers of the cot, that the small communicator in her bag went off, and she wiped at her eyes as she read the message on the tiny screen. She considered where she was, wondering whether this was a foolish thing to do as she quickly responded to the message, before laying it beside her head.

 **XxX**

Lieutenant Wynn walked beside Kylo as they marched through the ship, troopers and officers letting them both pass.

There was a congregation outside of the war room, officers talking in whispers, glee shining in their eyes. Kylo narrowed his gaze, feeling out for the surfaces of their minds but not delving any deeper. There was no need, these men had war on their minds, regardless of what the actual Supreme Leader thought. They were Hux's men and they were too numerous to be left to it.

'Move,' he ordered.

They seemed to only just realise that Kylo stood beside them, and the officers scattered, several of them casting Wynn harsh glares as they left. The Lieutenant stood her ground, however, and before Kylo entered the room, he turned back to her.

'You should be on guard, Wynn.'

She nodded. 'You too, your excellency.'

Kylo held her gaze for a second longer before turning into the room, Hux standing before a holographic replica of the galaxy.

The holograph showed where First Order troops were stationed in purple, and in red where Hux was looking to move them to. Red tracks stretched across the Outer Rim, all pointing towards the Mid Rim territories on its edges – Naboo, Bothawui, Trandosha, Kashyyyk. All with connections to the Republic. All threats to the First Order.

'Oh, Supreme Leader, you're here,' Hux started, straightening up and placing his hands behind his back.

'What is this, general?'

'Plans.' He lifted a hand and pointed to the planets covered in red. 'These planets are those that are aligned to the Republic. Once we take out their heads of state, we will be able to invade and conquer any ground forces they may have.'

Kylo was silent, and Hux moved around the table to continue. 'These planets, in green.' Hux indicated to planets still within the Outer Rim – Kylo knew they were First Order aligned and he contained his expression as Hux continued. 'We have heard murmurs of dissent in the capitals, so this is where the chemical weapon will come in use.'

'What is the weapon?' Kylo asked.

'A sort of acidic rain,' Hux began. 'It evaporates after five hours, leaving no trace, though those caught within it die very quickly.'

'Fauna and flora too?'

Hux shook his head and rounded to the head of the table, waving away the map. 'It has been synthesised to react only to certain DNA markers. We deduced it would be more logical to take out the bipedal species first.'

'And all of the officers are in agreement with this plan?

'The officers and I think that we can withhold the attack until after the Mid-Rim planets have fallen. When they see Naboo fall, it should be enough to halt any potential coups, because as you can imagine, cleaning up millions of bodies would be very messy and wasteful work.' The general leant back and folded his hands over the desk. 'I'm sure any of the officers who don't agree, will change their minds once you make the order.'

Kylo nodded briefly. 'I'm sure.'

There was a silence between them before Kylo cleared his throat. 'What about the Resistance? How do you plan on dealing with them?'

Hux smiled. 'That is the beauty of our plans for Naboo. The Resistance won't be able to stop themselves coming to the aid of the Republic's greatest stronghold, and they'll come out of their hiding hole. Seeing it fall will be the death knell of not only the Republic, but of the Resistance too. Killing the queen will show just how defenceless they are, and how easy it was for us to come in.'

'Hmm,' Kylo nodded absently, trying to settle his breathing.

Naboo had been his grandmother's home-world. He didn't like this, but he didn't know how to stop it.

'The Gungans?' he questioned, trying to find some weakness in Hux's plans.

'I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. We don't exactly want their underwater troves, do we?'

Hux stood once more and neared Kylo. Despite the slight height difference, there was a jagged confidence in the set of the officer's shoulders. Kylo could feel a chill along the back of his neck, as if the Force was shirking away from this man. It wasn't much different from how he had felt before he'd been trained in the Force. A natural call to run; to flee rather than fight. The First Order was Hux's and Kylo was struggling for a means to get control back.

'Is that all, Supreme Leader?' Hux murmured, a smirk lifting a corner of his lips.

Kylo nodded, and the general slipped past him, two officers joining to flank him.

Lieutenant Wynn was nowhere to be seen, so Kylo took the walk back to his quarters alone, not able to shake the feeling of trepidation that began to overwhelm him. His gloved hands were coated in sweat and he felt it bead at his forehead, dampening the hair at his temples and at the nape of his neck.

He thought briefly that perhaps he was just coming down with something, but Kylo knew better than that. The Force was trying to tell him something, but he didn't know what.

Kylo slammed his fist into the wall when his door closed, wincing at the shudder that vibrated through his fist, his arm and then shoulder. His gloves had stopped the skin from breaking, though he knew by the sheer force of it, that he had probably done enough damage to require a med-droid's once over.

He pulled off his gloves, throwing them across the room and then kicked off his boots, pulling at his outer clothes as if they were the actual problem, as if his clothing were making the walls close in around him.

Kylo was down to his inner tunic by the end of it, and he pulled on his black sleep trousers before he stared down at his small bed. The deep inhalations didn't help, nothing seemed to help. He was seething, and he could feel his anger pumping through his veins.

Dropping down onto the edge of his bed, he tried to focus on something, anything. Anger wouldn't help him, when had it ever truly helped him? Pain, maybe. Action, absolutely, but anger was like a drug. A momentary high, with no pay-off.

His fists clenched on his knees and then his head was in his hands as he tried to calm the raging inside him. It festered and Kylo realised that it hurt. It was overwhelming, and the more he realised, the more it began to wane.

Like an arm across his shoulders, massaging the muscles in his back, he felt himself straighten slightly and the pressure ease. Minutes passed as his breath began to even out, when he realised that it wasn't him doing it, and Rey stood across from him.

She was leaning against the wall, a few feet away from his bed. Her arms were tucked behind her and she looked down at him with a patient gaze.

'Tell me what you learned from the holocron.'

The question came from nowhere, sudden and used to fill the silence. Kylo knew it was idiotic and pointless, yet he couldn't think of anything else to say, not when he looked like a crumpled mess.

'Why would I tell you that?' she questioned, a smile slipping into place. 'Are you ever going to stop asking that?'

Kylo looked like a kicked Lothal cat and his posture worsened, curling further into himself. Rey sighed softly, looking up at the ceiling and then back at Kylo.

'What would you do if I told you everything?' she asked, her voice small, her brows creased in anticipation of his answer.

His eyes met hers then. Silence stretched on as he seemed hell bent on reading her own expression, trying to find the trick in her words, or to understand why she had given him this hypothetical. 'I…I don't know.'

Rey breathed through her nose softly, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall.

'I thought I would know, but I don't.' He added. Rey heard him swallow, before he cleared his throat and continued. 'Maybe I'd go to you, maybe I wouldn't.'

She straightened, her lips pursed, though Kylo maintained his gaze on her.

'If you won't come to me, what use is it if I were to go to you? I don't think I could tolerate your rejection again.'

Rey snorted. 'So, you would take me against my will?'

'You think I would do that?'

'Yes.'

He was silent for a moment, his jaw tightening. Perhaps he would have before, though there were many things he had promised himself after Crait. One of those being that he would kill her with his own hands, and he'd found out very quickly – too quickly, that he couldn't.

'You cannot lie to me, Ben.'

'Ben?'

Rey breathed again. 'When we can share the same space while lightyears apart, what's the point in pretending that you aren't Leia's son? That you aren't a Skywalker.'

'Rey.'

It was as if he said her name just because he could. There was no question, no statement, just her name released along with a breath, filling the room. Her own name echoed in her head and Rey closed her eyes once more, telling herself that this was a terrible idea, despite knowing that this was her reality. Kylo would be here, he would always be here until one or both of them died.

'I went to Ilum.'

'I know.'

She chuckled, looking at her feet and shaking her head. 'Of course you did.'

'You did not find your crystal there, though?'

Rey shook her head. 'I met Master Obi-Wan.'

Kylo's eyes narrowed.

'Ghosts don't often visit you, then?'

'No-o.' The hesitation in his voice was clear.

She smiled, liking that she had the upper hand in this at the very least. 'I asked about our connection.'

'And was he a font of knowledge?'

'Must you sound as if you yourself contain the world's secrets within your own head? I know it's not true.'

Kylo pouted and Rey found herself chuckling lightly. Eventually her laughter petered out and Kylo's gaze was intense, head-achingly so.

'He told you what we would have to do to rid ourselves of the link?' He guessed, though Rey could have believed that he had read her mind.

She nodded. 'That it meant one of us walking away from the Force.'

'Easy, right? Perhaps dying would also solve it.'

Rey didn't respond, she just stared at Kylo, feeling her chest tighten. She couldn't delude herself into thinking that his death would be easy, that she could forget it and it would not impact her at all. Not when Kylo was always there, at most being at her peripheries, or like now, being here in front of her, feeling like he was standing within a chamber of her heart: Sitting in the theatre that was her soul. It didn't matter what she felt towards him, this was her reality.

'I know that it would feel like I've died too.' Before Kylo could respond, she leaned away from the wall. 'What's living if there's a hole where your heart should be?'

He watched her as she stood within two strides of him, his face angled up at her as she looked down at him. It was from this distance, directly under the artificial light that lit his quarters, that he could see the glitter of tears in her eyes.

'Are you finally convinced that the Light…the Dark, they are irrelevant? Neither will save you.'

'Us,' she amended, anger blazing behind her unshed tears. 'It is your fate too, you cannot avoid that.'

His mouth was reduced to a thin line and Rey could see his jaw strain, pulling the skin of his face taught.

'It doesn't matter.'

'You cannot pretend that I am alone in this.'

His eye twitched and his gaze narrowed. 'I am not pretending, I'm being realistic. You live in an idealistic world where there is only good, where there should only be good, and it's foolish and pointless. Shall I die to make you free?'

'Stop being spiteful,' she hissed.

'Why when we are meant to be each other's antithesis? We cannot truly live without one another.'

Rey quieted, watching Kylo as he breathed heavily, like he'd spilled secrets rather than the truth. She did not move, just stared at the man where he sat on his bed, arms resting on his thighs. 'What does that make us?' she questioned. 'If we are two sides of a coin? Darkness on one side, Light on the other.'

Kylo narrowed his eyes, almost convincing himself that he hadn't heard Rey correctly. 'You believe we are two sides of a coin?'

Her expression grew sombre and she found herself reaching for Kylo, hesitating when she realised their hands were bare, and she retreated.

'Don't—' Kylo cut himself off, bare hand clenching at his knee in frustration.

Rey smiled wryly. 'I said before that I could not deny our bond, so I can only believe that our connection means something.'

The unsaid words were held in the stiff air around them.

 _That we are meant to be together. That we are fated. That we are inevitable._

The young Jedi was reluctant to say them out loud, whether that was because she knew they would frighten Kylo or herself, she wasn't completely sure.

'You are important to me,' Kylo murmured after several minutes of silence between them. 'I said so on _Supremacy_ and I meant it.'

'You said a lot of things on the _Supremacy_ ,' Rey responded, her eyes meeting his.

His brown eyes were passive as they looked at her, the violence in his heart flowing so easily from him and evaporating into their bond, turning temperate, warm even. He managed to forget the anger that had been building because of Hux, because of his own incompetence, because of his inability to control anything.

'I can't be what you want me to be,' she added.

'If you would touch me, you would see—'

Rey shook her head. 'I won't pretend that our thoughts are resolved, that we have reached an agreement, because we have not. I will not jeopardise what I seek to protect. Right now, you are a complication that I will manage, even if it kills me.'

'You are cruel.'

The words settled between them and there was no force behind them, there was no truth enthused in his tone, his gaze, nor his heart. Rey knew him with every fibre of her being, and perhaps that was what was truly cruel. Cruelty being that her soul's twin could be the end of her everything.

'No, no I am not.'

'Tell me where you are, Rey.'

The passivity in his tone sounded as if he were laying his final card on the table; making his last bet, and it left Rey blinking dumbly at him, even if it was not a question she hadn't heard before.

'Please do not ask me again, because I know you will not follow.'

With that, she turned from him, disappearing from his view, even though he could still sense that their bond was active, thrumming beneath his skin.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this extra long one, folks! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

* * *

 _On Ruusan. Leaving in 5 hours._

Ruusan?

It had been mere weeks since what little First Order forces had been on the planet, had been swiftly and summarily removed by a handful of Resistance pilots. It was yet another thing that the First Order were keeping quiet, so Mar wondered absently why Rey was there. It was the half-way house of Mid-Rim planets and he couldn't imagine what she could possibly find there other than brothels and bad alcohol.

Mar downed the rest of his caf as he gathered his things once more. Xhona hadn't yet commented on the fact that he'd disappeared for twelve hours to meet Kylo on Bakura, though Mar imagined that she'd definitely have something to say if she caught him leaving again.

He decided against carrying anything but his satchel and a handful of credits – leaving all his weapons except the Lightsaber behind.

The others were still sleeping when he departed to meet Rey. Though he had given her the communicator with every expectation of seeing her again, he was still somewhat surprised that his efforts had paid off. Perhaps she didn't see him as a threat, and that thought alone left Mar amused.

Shaking his head, he pulled into hyperspace, trying to think of the woman who could singlehandedly destroy the First Order, with a little more credit.

 **XxX**

Rey nibbled on the plate of food that the Inn-keeper had brought up for her, trying to stave off her hunger more than anything.

She'd been awake a handful hours when the connection had snapped open, Kylo sitting before her like he was a man with nothing left. Even his emotions had been tumultuous, though Rey considered that they always were. His thoughts and feelings were heavy, so much so that Rey tried actively not to concentrate on them, but then, he had been wound tight; too much potential energy squeezing and causing pressure within him.

Rey could only watch as he simpered and gradually seemed to loosen up — talking himself down, she imagined, and then he'd looked at her. His eyes wide and accepting and she'd not known what to say, what could she possibly say?

Packing her satchel, Rey took a heavy breath and looked about the room once more, checking for anything she had left behind.

Mar had sent her the name of a cantina they could meet in, so she left the Inn and headed in that direction, trying not to dwell too heavily on her conversation with Kylo.

It was with good reason that she put herself at a distance from him – for both of their sakes. Even if their connection was inevitable, it didn't mean that Rey could let it ruin their lives. She had a mission, she had things she needed – no, wanted to do and Kylo couldn't get in the way of that, no matter how much she wanted to intrude on his own life.

She wanted to know why his expression had been so lost, why he had wanted her to touch him so badly, why they both felt so deeply for each other when it wasn't fair. It frustrated Rey because she knew that there was no longer malice in him where she was concerned – or perhaps it had never been malice, and had only ever been frustration and a lack of control that he could not accept.

Now, the chasm that the two had been separated over, was coming back together and Rey knew she could just cross. She knew she could do that, but she resisted all the same, only giving herself in small segments, trying to maintain something wholly separate from him.

And wasn't that what was happening? They were slowly melting together.

Rey rubbed her eyes and pulled her cloak further over her shoulders, her hand resting against her Lightsaber, feeling the crystal within pulse gently.

Once she was on Naboo, she could put him at a distance. Even if they were to connect again, she knew what to say to him to keep him at a distance. That gave her some semblance of relief as she pushed the double doors of the cantina, spotting Mar in a distant corner.

 **XxX**

It was quiet at this time of the morning and Mar absently moved the stew around on his plate, his appetite long gone.

He had been to Ruusan many times before. It had been the home of a handful of ancient objects due to the litany of wars that had been fought across its surface. Though it wasn't a particularly comfortable planet. The climate was poor, the people were almost as bad as those in Hutt space, though they smelled worse, and it held no true heart. It was just another planet where people wanted to leave.

It was no surprise then when Rey walked in – decked out with all of her gear – that she was ready to go too.

The young Jedi stopped in front of the table Mar sat at, observing him with a slight dip in her mouth, looking at him carefully as if he would pull a blaster from beneath the table and shoot her right then.

'You're welcome to sit,' he murmured.

Rey watched him for a few seconds more, before she sat down across from him, crossing her arms on the table's surface.

'Did you get what you were searching for?' he asked.

'I think I'm going to get us drinks,' she responded instead, shooting back up and heading towards the bar.

 _So that was a yes, then_. Mar considered.

She returned a minute later with two glasses and a bottle of plum wine.

Rey uncorked the bottle and poured them both equal shares as she settled into her chair, looking Mar over carefully.

'I thought I was supposed to reach out to you if I needed your help?' she questioned.

Mar closed his eyes and sighed softly.

'Have you heard about what the First Order is up to?' he questioned.

Rey paused, though nodded. 'Assassinations, genocide. What do you think is triggering it all?'

'Coups, general dissent.' Mar sipped at the crimson liquid, clasping the glass in his hands. 'The First Order are showing their force, showing that they will strike anything that deviates from the plan. Now that their armies are spread throughout the Outer Rim, it means that fissures of weakness are beginning to show, and those are where the Resistance can target.'

She paused and drank. 'Why do you know so much about First Order movements?'

'I've been following this for years. If you are not always aware of where your enemy is, how do you hope to ever win? If Kylo—'

Mar was not able to finish his trail of thought as Rey quickly interrupted, a fissure in her brow.

'Are you sure it is Kylo?' The question seemed to lack true thought behind it, even to Mar's eyes, though her eyes stayed resolutely on the Kiffar. 'Are you sure this is all his plan?'

'You do not think it is?'

He appraised her, wondering why she would ask this. Why she would consider that the Supreme Leader of the First Order wasn't the one calling the shots. She didn't seem to know enough to know that it was Hux, yet at the same time, she clearly knew something.

'What do you know of Kylo? The Kylo that lives now, as Supreme Leader.'

'Very little,' Mar said without hesitation, the lie tasting like acid. 'I know his skills, his weapon, but that is all.'

Rey swallowed and took a breath. 'At the temple—at Luke's temple, would you have considered him a good strategist?'

Mar nodded. 'Good, but maybe an overthinker.'

She snorted, and Mar's eyebrows raised. _What did she know that she was not saying_.

'A coward?' He met her eyes, confusion in them and Rey continued. 'Killing people in their beds is a cowards sport, isn't it? A betrayal of honour and surely against his code.'

'In their…you…how do you know that?'

'You did not?'

Mar shook his head and he felt his head begin to throb at the information that he began sifting through. He of course knew that Hux was the culprit of the assassinations on Chandrila, yet he hadn't known how they were killed, and Kylo had never mentioned it. Mar perhaps should have been impressed by the quality of spies the Resistance had, yet his mind stayed simmering on why Ret had thought to bring it up. It was clear that she did not think it was Kylo who ordered the assassinations, though Mar couldn't imagine why she would think that. She didn't know Kylo, not the Kylo or Ben of the past, nor the Kylo of the present.

'I think that I can trust you, Mar.'

'Really?'

Rey smiled gingerly and nodded. 'I've looked into my own heart, and I've made the decision to trust it.'

'I didn't expect that,' he answered, though was equally thrown by Rey's expression.

'When the galaxy is in the state it's currently in, we can't spend time dallying too long. If I fight for justice, if I fight for everything good that the Force can bring to this world, then I will trust even someone as suspicious as you.'

Mar was silent for a long time, staring at Rey and at the light that bounced in her brown eyes.

Why was she this way? Who was she really and truly?

Even if he committed his every thought to figuring out her actions, the meaning behind them, Mar thought that he wouldn't find any success or answer.

He was waiting and waiting to see the killer that had dispatched of Snoke and his guards so thoroughly and without assistance. She had to have been clinical, especially to leave Kylo alive, as if she needed a messenger to tell the galaxy of her skill, to accept her as its master. Yet, this was not her. Rey was someone who saw the people around her as her allies, and the Force was the balancing weight of it all. She followed her heart and Mar could think of nothing but of how misguided he had been when he'd first been at the temple. When he had also done the same.

'You remind me of myself,' he murmured softly, yet there was a give in the space between his brows, as if he didn't want to be forthcoming with this fact. 'When I joined Luke, I was so idealistic. I left Kiffu, I left my family behind to seek a greater path, one where injustice was nothing but a painful memory.'

Rey watched him carefully, her hands cradling her glass. 'It's funny how suffering can poison everything you are.'

Mar didn't proceed, despite wanting to. Wanting to unload everything that had built up over the years, that he had no one to share with: That he'd been manipulated by Snoke, through Ben. Ben, his once best friend, his brother.

It was a harsh reminder of his loyalty – to a fault, he knew absolutely – that had never allowed him to hurt Ben, even when he could have. Everything Mar had done, everything he was still doing, was kept on the peripheries of his friend, because perhaps the man could change on his own. Without Snoke now, he could control his own destiny again.

Mar tossed back his drink and filled it again with the bottle that sat between them.

'Don't be poisoned against your own decisions,' he murmured. 'Trust and loyalty is great; it's grand, but it isn't always the path. What did the Jedi of old get for being loyal to the order? Death. They were blind to those in their own ranks, and it was too late for them.'

Rey frowned, feeling subdued.

'There's an arrogance in loyalty, Rey. Don't ever be deceived by that.'

'Is that a warning against you?' she questioned.

Mar smiled briefly. 'Perhaps it is.'

'Who are you, Mar?'

'I don't think even I have that answer.'

Rey smiled. 'Then who do you want to be?'

He thought about it. Really thought about it, and he thought of the young boy on Kiffu, talented beyond the ability of the teachers on his home world, but so willing to learn, to protect, to be like those in his tribe who had come before him. Though, maybe the years straying from the path had corrupted all that now. Even though he could have, he hadn't seen his family in years, and he'd killed…he'd killed so many people that shouldn't have needed to die.

'I don't know anymore.' He answered honestly. 'What about you?'

'Someone who can help others. To help those who are lost find a family, to create something that's more than me.'

Mar smiled despite himself and he filled their glasses to the top. 'Yet you don't need a lightsaber to do that. You don't even need the Force to do that.'

Rey nodded.

'I've always thought being a Force-user, that it only ever complicated things. Haven't you considered what it would be like if you'd never gotten involved, if the Force had never come to you?' He asked.

Rey tried to imagine what life could have been like if her parent's hadn't thrown her away, if the Force had never called to her. For a brief moment the idea of a clean slate was incredibly compelling, and Rey wondered what would happen if she just ran away. If she just did what Luke had done and closed herself from the Force, got on a ship and ran across the cosmos.

'Maybe, but this is my lot, and I can try to avoid it, but just like the changing of tides, or the orbit of a moon, life always finds its way back where it began. Life will always find a way, even if we resist it, even if we fight against our very own nature.'

Rey stood then, taking several more sips of her drink. As she pulled the cloak around her, Mar spotted the smooth dark grey cylinder at her hip, and he smiled faintly.

Then his mind settled on her words, backtracking and deducing what she had meant. He didn't know why he was so fixated on analysing her, but he did anyway, even as Rey began moving through the tables in the bar.

His thoughts rested on the dead Chandrilans and he considered that only a fool would think that Kylo would need to kill people while they slept. Especially when he wasn't known for his subtlety. And that was shown enough in his fighting style, yet Mar didn't believe that, that fully explained Rey's words.

He was half way back to his own ship when he stopped, remembering the moment that had changed his life, the key reason why it was so illogical that Kylo had ever been involved in those assassinations.

 _It had been raining when the caving in of bricks and the sound of water sizzling against a lightsaber blade rang through the camp._

 _There was shouting and then there was silence as Ben had stood on the rubble of what had once been his own hut and he panted heavily, his eyes glassy – Mar knew it was with tears._

 _'He tried to kill me in my bed,' Ben barely mumbled. 'He pulled his lightsaber on me.'_

 _There were choruses of disbelief, so much disbelief, and then there were weapons drawn and Ben stumbled back on the rocks, fear in his eyes. Such sadness and betrayal and Mar was lost, his own weapon in his hands. The others were rounding on Ben, trying to avenge their fallen master, not listening to the boy they had never liked – he had been better than them, he had never even been humble about that. The great Luke Skywalker's nephew, born for greatness because it was in his blood. It didn't matter that Luke had treated him like an untrained animal, always kept chained just in case._

 _It didn't matter if no one else believed him, because Mar knew Ben, he knew how hard it was for him, and maybe they had seen this coming. It didn't seem farfetched to think that Luke was a manipulator, because he had manipulated Ben, he had squandered and continued to waste his potential, and everyone knew that. Even those who hated the young Solo._

 _'Stop,' Mar shouted, though the din did not settle._

 _Xhona was beside him then, a hand on his shoulder, and there was a clarity in her grip. She knew what was coming, she was telling him to prepare._

 _Jojen was behind Ben, glaring at the ones who were nearest to Ben, shouting up at him._

 _The rain seemed to grow heavier and the splattering louder._

 _Perhaps it had been a freak weather pattern, or it was Ben, or the Force itself, agitated, frightened at what was to come. But a lightning bolt had stretched across the sky and hit the antenna on the temple, launching it into flames and then the screaming grew and suddenly Ben was fighting. Everyone was fighting._

 _The fire defied the rain and the fools who thought that they could best the most talented lightsaber-dueller fell. At the hands of Ben, Xhona, Jojen and Mar himself._

Rey knew this. Mar was resolute in that. She knew it, and he didn't know how.

 **XxX**

Rey's breathing was laboured as she pushed herself through the throng of people outside the spaceport. It wasn't because she had practically ran the two miles to the port, it was how much she had admitted to Mar.

Though it wasn't exactly damning, she couldn't help but think of how foolish she had been in being so open, even if her heart told her to trust him. Even if there was something suspicious about him – as if he were withholding something – Rey couldn't help following her intuition, and it had only led her astray on one occasion before.

That occasion – that person was still in her mind. Kylo hadn't left her thoughts since she had walked from their connection, after he'd asked her to touch him. It was another headache that she didn't need, because she was scared that maybe eventually she would go to him. She'd convince herself that it wouldn't be bad, that surely their paths would have diverted if it was bad. When truly what would happen would be that she'd convince herself that he had changed and she'd fall into her own self-made trap.

She couldn't put the blame on him if she allowed herself to go to him. It wasn't a manipulation when she was doing it to herself.

Rey sighed heavily as she approached the X-Wing, glancing up at the giant board that sat in the port, indicating the time in galactic standard. She pulled herself into the starfighter and began flicking the systems on, trying to avoid thinking about Kylo. If she could at least make it through this mission without another link, she'd be grateful.

The engines started and Rey readied the ship to take-off, thinking back to her conversation with Mar, and perhaps what she had let slip.

She wondered what he could possibly know from all his spying. Did he know how Snoke had died? The First Order had yet to announce that she was wanted for the Supreme Leader's murder, so Rey wondered what Kylo had done or said. He wouldn't have taken the blame, yet it seemed as if nobody was taking the blame at all.

It was a question she should have presented to Mar – did he even know that she had been there on _Supremacy._ Rey chided herself for not asking more questions, particularly when her feelings of trust towards him came from her gut rather than from the things he had told her. She should have asked for his own First Order contacts, to assist her more.

As the starfighter breached the upper atmosphere, Rey huffed, knowing that she had been short-sighted. Even if she could trust Mar, she shouldn't have been so quick to. If the others knew, they'd tell her the same. Her actions were jeopardising everyone's safety and Rey was thankful that at least when she was away from Ahlenn, she was keeping the danger directed at herself.

Setting in the co-ordinates for Naboo once she was in the silence of space, Rey took a moment to send a message to Poe: _OMW, update me when you can_ , and sped off into hyperspace.

It took Rey longer than she had wanted to get to Naboo, and using the access codes provided to her by Poe, she took the X-Wing into a slow land in Theed's main ship port a few miles from the Theed Royal Palace. Before she'd left the ship, she went through her things, making sure that she had her lightsaber hidden within her cloak.

When she'd gathered her belongings and jumped down the side of the ship, there was a small grouping of men waiting for her, their hands clasped over their long deep blue robes.

'We are pleased to welcome you to the city of Theed, Captain Rey,' one of the three said softly, bowing his head softly.

Rey was caught somewhat by the use of _Captain_ , and blinked momentarily before smiling brightly, bowing her own head and holding a hand out. The man shook her hand, though his expression did not change from passivity.

'Pleased to meet you,' Rey answered, meeting all of their gazes.

'We are ministers of the queen's Royal Advisory Council. I am Elderon, and we will be escorting you to the palace.'

Rey nodded, pulling her bag further over her shoulder and glancing about what she could see of the city. Despite it being early morning, the port itself was heaving with people, and she could see activity from street level, up to the domes that roofed the buildings throughout Theed.

The palace was remarkable – Rey had seen it edge the city, overhanging a waterfall cliff and she wondered at its beauty. It was the most beautiful building she had ever seen in her life, though Rey couldn't honestly say she had seen many.

She followed quickly after the three robed men, deciding to leave her questions regarding the city until later.

Once they were out of the space port, Elderon gestured to an open-topped vehicle that sat on the street, manned by a driver who rushed to open the door for them all. They climbed in and Rey let her eyes wander over the faces that they passed.

'You have a beautiful city,' she pondered aloud. 'Is all of Naboo like this?'

Rey felt a change in the atmosphere and she turned to one of the robed men who had smiled brightly – he was the eldest of the three and he nodded. 'Even more so,' he murmured. 'You will not find a more beautiful planet than this, and I say that from experience.'

The young Jedi grinned and looked back out at the city, yearning to see beyond the domed walls. To see what kind of trees the leaves she could see belonged to. How big were the seas and lakes? What were the Gungan people were like? The Force filled her with further excitement as she felt the tingle of vibrant life around her.

'Queen Kamiela is quite excited to admit you. General Organa has not sent an envoy to us in some time,' the older man responded. He then seemed to remember himself and he held a hand out. 'I am Gilderoy, by the way.'

Rey took his hand and he clutched it tightly, shaking her own with both of his. His touch was warm and Rey could feel his brightness through it alone. He was a good man and the Force practically shouted it at her.

'We think that now is a time for unity,' Rey answered with solemnity. 'The loss of the Hosnian system is something we must face together in order to rebuild.'

The three men nodded, even Elderon, who looked sternly at a group of children, playing a ball game on the street.

The vehicle slipped into a steady silence as they continued along the road, the quantity of people on the streets growing and then petering out as they drew closer to the palace walls. There were guards flanked all along the walls, holding large blaster rifles and handmaidens milling about between them in their bright orange regalia.

Rey stepped from the vehicle just outside of the palace gates, and they were led to a small entrance to the side, that was attached to a large courtyard.

There they were met by four lady's maids, who bowed and smiled at Rey, before leading her forward and into the palace itself. They walked for several minutes, before stopping at a set of large double doors. Once there, two guards that stood watch pushed them open and they were all welcomed inside.

Queen Kamiela sat on a throne in a deep purple dress and matching headdress, her skin painted snow white and dots of red paint on her cheeks and lips. Despite the warm climate, the dress covered from her throat to her feet, only the skin of her forearms free. She smiled warmly as they all approached, and the maids moved to stand beside her as Rey moved to the centre.

Rey couldn't help but be remined of the antithesis of this moment and the last time she had been standing before a throne. It did nothing to help her sudden nerves at standing before a queen whose age was not much different from her own.

'Captain Rey,' the queen spoke softly, her hands meeting in a single clap. 'It's wonderful to welcome you to Naboo.'

'It's wonderful to be here, your Majesty,' Rey responded, bowing her head, a hand clasped over her heart.

'I imagine that you bring much news of the Republic and the Resistance,' the queen added. 'I understand you may have had a very long journey, so please feel free to take a moment in the rooms I have prepared for you, and we may talk further over lunch.'

'Thank you for your kindness, your Majesty.'

The queen smiled and shook her hand. 'It's no bother. Mithra and Löé, would you please show the captain to her guest room and provided her with anything she might need.'

Two of the maids nodded their heads, murmuring their understanding of the task, and they approached Rey, curtsying before leading her out of the room. As they walked slowly to another corner of the palace, seeming to climb stairs to get there, Rey cleared her throat and the two women dropped into step beside her.

'Would you be able to provide me with an encrypted holo-communications channel? I would like to inform my commanding officer that I have arrived.'

Mithra nodded, 'Of course, Miss.'

They continued on, the two maids leaving Rey to a room – no rooms, that were unnecessarily grandiose and large, particularly in comparison to what Rey was used to. The ceilings were slung with pink and orange silk, every surface in fact was covered in some derivation of the two colours. The plate of fruit and nuts that was left out complimented the colour scheme perfectly, as well as the glass and jug of tea that was gently steaming to the side.

There lay a pale pink outfit across the bed, with a small note across it.

 _Please be comfortable in the palace. I would like if it were your home away from home._

Rey lifted the material up, her fingers glancing across its softness. It was a loose jumpsuit with an attached hooded cape, that reached to her lower back. There were enough folds to hide her lightsaber within it, yet it was loose and moveable enough for her to fight or run in.

It took Rey longer than she had liked to find the entrance to the bathroom, and when she did, it was more like a public bathing area, with a large tub, that was more like a pool, and benches along the edges. Rey nosed around, finding the doors to the shower cubicle and looking around inside, before turning the knob and beginning to remove her clothes, folding them neatly on the bath step.

This was what luxurious living was, Rey thought. The water was the perfect temperature and it smelled like queen's heart flowers. The soap that fed from a dispenser in the wall lathered perfectly, leaving her skin feeling softer and cleaner than it ever had before. By the time Rey had exited the shower, her skin was pink and her dirty clothes were gone.

When she pulled on the outfit that had been left for her, a communications consul had been brought into the bedroom and Rey sighed lightly as she took a seat in front of it, tying her wet hair into a bun at the nape of her neck.

It didn't take much to triple check that the panel was set to a secure connection, and she plugged in her own scrambler before dialling in the number Poe had given her.

Poe answered after several tones, and his holographic appearance came into view, Rey beaming at him.

'You look like you've gone to the spa,' he laughed.

Rey grinned. 'If this is what the spa is actually like, I'm not surprised people spend a fortune going. How is everything?'

Poe nodded his head. 'We are taking count of our numbers. There has been a lot of movement from First Order posts, and we can't be completely sure of their plan. All we know is that it involves a lot of foot soldiers.'

Rey nodded with a sigh, her brow furrowing. 'I'm sorry that I haven't been able to help more with that.'

The Commander shook his head, waving her away. 'Unless you have easy access to Hux or Kylo Ren's minds, then you're excused.'

She tried to laugh, but it came out weakly, and Rey closed her eyes, wishing that she had been smart enough to at least try and manipulate information out of Kylo. But she had to admit, in that department she was utterly spineless.

'Have my orders changed at all?'

'Just keep close to the queen,' he answered with a nod. 'We still think danger is imminent, so just make sure she is safe, and you are too.'

Rey nodded when Poe paused, and then he suddenly smiled wide. 'And make sure to enjoy yourself, at least a little.'

She snorted and nodded. 'I'll try. This place is absolutely unreal, though. You might have a hard time convincing me to ever leave.'

'At least if you stay, you have the opportunity to start up a Nabooian alcohol trade route straight to yours truly.'

Rey chuckled. 'You cannot resist, can you?'

Poe shook his head, waggling his eyebrows. 'Not a chance. I've got to leave you now, but I'll try to keep you updated on your comm-link, okay? If anything smells fishy let me know, particularly where the queen is concerned. I'll have a squad stationed as near as I can.'

Rey nodded, and with a brief smile, shut the channel off, and leaned back into the chair, her eyes following the folds and draping of the silk fabric above her.

There was a knock on the door, and Rey stood, quickly grabbing her lightsaber, hiding it within the folds of the outfit and she hastily walked to the door, opening it swiftly.

Mithra stood with her head slightly bowed, meeting Rey's eyes once the door was opened. 'Her Majesty asked if you were ready for lunch,' she said sweetly.

Rey smiled and nodded. The young woman soon began walking down the corridor, Rey following behind.

They entered a large dining hall, Mithra gesturing to a seat beside the queen that Rey could take, and the young Jedi approached, smiling widely at her royal host.

'You already look refreshed,' she said, clasping her hands together. 'Please sit.'

Rey did as she was told, sitting beside the queen as the young royal gestured for drinks and food to be brought over.

'Now, you must tell me about yourself. I imagine you know lots about me.'

'I'm sure not the most important stuff,' Rey answered with a wry smile.

Queen Kamiela chuckled and shook her head. 'I'm not much older than you. I bet you've seen more of the world than I have.'

Rey smiled, shrugging her shoulders lightly. 'I haven't been with the Resistance long. I spent the majority of my life at a trading post, trading old Imperial junk for portions.'

'What led you to finding General Organa?'

'Luck and timing, I suppose,' she responded with another smile. Rey accepted the glass of juice presented to her by a butler and she drank eagerly at the drink when she realised how delicious it was.

Queen Kamiela smiled warmly, taking up her own glass. 'I was born not far from Lake Paonga, in a small farming village. I suppose I became a queen from luck and timing too.'

There were several plates set at the table, and the ministers Rey had met earlier on entered the large dining room and bowed before the queen before taking seats around the table. Gilderoy sat across from Rey and she bowed her head lightly in respect.

'Now General Organa did send us correspondence on the recent actions of the First Order, so we know of the people seeking refuge from Vardos. I'm afraid our information about the Protectorate is quite limited, so we are not entirely sure of the potential impact Gleb's death will have on our planet.'

Rey nodded, taking a brief sip of her juice. 'The Protectorate and her law enforcement agency – Jinata Security, were primarily the executors of Project Resurrection. The First Order's loss of Jinata Security means that their abduction efforts have diminished substantially.'

'Do the First Order not have a fail safe?' Minister Elderon asked.

'The First Order lost a sizable quantity of their force due to the heroic actions of Admiral Holdo, so their attention has primarily been on bringing the fleet back to the numbers they were seeing before the battle of Crait. Without Jinata, they would be forced to take on the bulk of the abductions and training, and as we believe that Vardos will not be the last coup, we think that we can concentrate on attacking their weakest areas first.'

The queen nodded, her head bowed slightly as she thought.

'I see.'

Her eyes met with Elderon and he nodded his head briefly.

'The loss of the Hosnian system was a great blow to Republic leadership and the fear of utter annihilation was what kept us away from Crait.'

The queen looked greatly aggrieved, Rey sensing that she felt guilt that her forces had not come to the Resistance in their time of need.

'I imagine that it may have been the same for many other Republic-aligned planets, your Majesty.' Rey responded, looking conflicted. She could at least understand choosing between flying and fighting.

Elderon nodded his head.

'We would like to help now. In whatever way that the Resistance deems best. We're tired of cowering to the First Order's threats. We have let it go on for too long and I would be disgracing all of those who have come before me if we just sat back now.'

Rey met the queen's eyes, and the woman had a determination that sat within her gaze that had Rey smiling.

'Now I want you to eat, and then you will tell us exactly what position the Resistance is in and how we can aid you.'

 **XxX**

Kylo had sat on his cot for several hours after Rey had left. Perhaps if he hadn't been so used to seeing her leave him, he would have raged as usual, but this time he knew what she felt. There was no confusion in that, there was no possible manipulation or second thoughts.

He wished Rey were truly cruel, because it could at least explain why she resisted the inevitable, when she could have just clasped his hand and seen their futures again. Without Snoke's influence, without him confusing what they felt for each other.

Even though he'd gone to his quarters for the express purpose of sleep, it evaded him now; the Force seemingly calling him into action.

Kylo was back in his black tunic and trousers a few minutes later, splashing water from the 'fresher on his face to clear his mind further. Though even as he closed his eyes to do so, he saw Rey materialising behind his lids.

It was infuriating yet it still calmed his anger and his beating heart just seeing her. He couldn't understand the duality of her presence on him, yet now that he knew why she was so unwilling to reach for him too, he could accept it.

If her reluctance rested on whether she was prepared to jeopardise the things she wanted, and those she wanted to protect, he would show her that she could have whatever she wanted. Kylo would resolve their thoughts, he would speak with her directly, and she couldn't simply walk away if they were sharing the same atmosphere again. She couldn't run away from the inevitable.

The walk to his ready room was too long, his thoughts on the data that Mar had given him and he had collated. When he'd come back from Coruscant he'd asked Wynn to move his files to his ready room. He was close to finding where Rey was, where the Resistance was even, and unless Mar found them first, he was going to channel all of his energy into doing just that.

The door opened to his code and a retinal scan, though Kylo found himself pausing at the door, feeling as if the particles had been disturbed by someone other than himself or Wynn. He approached his desk, gloved hands slipping across the metal surface, feeling that the room had been disturbed.

His datapads were kept in a lock box beneath the table, so he knelt, reaching for it and pulling it out. Another code unlocked the square compartment, though when he opened it, it was empty.

Holding back the wish to immediately fly into a rage, Kylo stood, squaring his jaw and tapping the comm, asking the computer to connect him to Lieutenant Wynn.

'My ready room, Wynn.' His voice was tight, and he felt his hand crush a remote for the holo-projector on the table's surface.

Lieutenant Wynn arrived three minutes later, out of breath and sweat across her forehead, and the door slid shut behind her.

'Where are the files that were left here? Has someone been here?' He tried his most to keep his voice level so that he could get a straight answer out of the officer, though Kylo knew his teeth were barred at her, and there was fear in her eyes.

The Lieutenant shook her head, a tremble in her lip, despite it not reaching her voice. 'Not that I know of, sir. The room has been locked since you departed.'

He frowned and knelt down, pulling another drawer open, thinking that Wynn had perhaps carelessly placed the documents in there rather than in the storage box. Yet they weren't there either and even if he wanted to pretend differently, he knew someone else had managed to get inside the room without his approval.

His fist clenched, and he felt Wynn hesitate at his side.

'Was the information not encrypted, sir?'

'Yes, but there were no duplicates. Get me the security footage.'

She nodded sharply, turning to exit when the door slid open before she could reach the panel.

Kylo's hand was up, pushing Wynn out of the way and to the side as the blaster sounded, echoing against the durasteel walls and finding a home an inch from his heart, the heat beginning to burn through his tunic as the erratic energy was frozen in the air.

His eyes caught on the assailant – a grunt – an unknown trooper. Wynn cocked her blaster before Kylo could extricate himself from the path of the frozen bolt and reach for his potential assassin, leasing her own weapon on the trooper. He staggered against the wall behind him before collapsing, a hole in his armour smoking.

'Supreme Leader?' she questioned, turning as he moved around the blaster bolt, letting his hold on it drop. It destroyed a shelf that sat behind the desk, carving a hole of melted durasteel in the wall.

'Are you injured?' he questioned, exiting the room and looking up and down the corridor.

'No sir, though an assassin?'

Kylo's frown was heavy. The stormtrooper was already dead, there was clearly a price on his head, and his files had been stolen. Even if they were encrypted, a good enough code-cracker could get them open with time and resources, both of which Kylo himself was quickly losing. And once the files were in the hands of his enemy – and he knew it had to be Hux – things would only get worse.

'Call my knights,' he murmured, glancing briefly back at Wynn. 'This has gone on long enough.'

* * *

 **Absolutely not sure what got into me this week. THIS UPDATE WAS SO LONG. I hope you enjoyed, loves.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

* * *

The meal had been delicious.

Rey had happily eaten the variety of dishes laid out in front of her, briefly glancing at the queen as if asking permission for her to eat her fill.

There had been a comfortable silence that settled over them at the start of the meal, though by the time the second lunch course had arrived, the queen was speaking animatedly about Naboo and the places that Rey should visit.

It was on the third course that conversation once more turned to the Resistance, and the ministers mostly stopped eating, listening to the conversation and responding when the queen gestured for them to intervene.

It quickly became apparent that though Naboo's forces had grown since the days of the Old Republic, they would still need to rely on their alliance with the Gungans if there were any future wars. There just weren't enough humans on Naboo, and many of them were farmers or traders, with no desire to fight. Peace had been in their blood for centuries, and regardless of the current climate, it was probably best to keep it that way.

What the queen could offer was resources – food mostly, but the aid of a few of her engineers and some of her best men too.

Rey had showed her appreciation but had not accepted the offer. While those were things that the Resistance likely needed, she was here to protect the queen, not ask and accept their aid. She smiled throughout, however, nodding along with the queen and the ministers.

When the servers collected the glasses, the queen stood and everyone else followed suit.

'I think I'd like to show you around the palace myself, Rey,' she murmured, smiling before looking to her ministers. 'Please feel free to continue with your work. I'm sure that Captain Rey has been particularly enlightening.'

Elderon nodded, turning it into a bow. 'Yes, your majesty. We will make your excuses at this afternoon's session.'

'Wonderful.'

The three men swiftly marched off, almost in sync, and Rey's attention was brought back to Queen Kamiela when she laid a hand gently on Rey's shoulder.

'Come, let me show you around the palace. I think you'll like it.'

Rey nodded and followed after her, watching the way the queen's aubergine gown grazed the floor. She held her hands folded in front of her as she walked, quicker than Rey expected, so the young Jedi hurried her pace, walking into step beside the queen. She gestured to the handmaidens who approached, and they all slunk back into their positions, not following.

'Hmm,' she hummed softly, looking out of the corner of her eyes at Rey. 'You know what I find the most interesting about you?' she questioned.

'I'm not sure, your Majesty.'

The young queen's lips broke into a smile. 'I've seen your eyes before. The intent in them. It's how I know you've not been completely honest today.'

Rey's brows raised, and she blinked. 'I'm not sure what you mean, your Majesty.'

'Well of course I believe you're from the Resistance, yet there is something about you that I can't quite put my finger on.' The queen stopped in the hallway, turned to Rey and met her gaze. 'You're more than just a captain,' she spoke, though it almost seemed to be a question.

'What more is there, your Majesty?'

Queen Kamiela grinned then. 'Oh, much more. And I fully plan on getting it out of you.'

Rey blinked, trying to hide her curiosity regarding the queen's words behind a wall of military calm – trying to pretend herself the captain she was supposed to be.

'Well if I must do the complete works on you, I suppose that means you'll be happy to attend the banquet we're having this evening. It's the end of the harvest season, so there will be parties across Theed, and of course, we have one here for all those who work in the palace and their families.'

'Of course, I'd love to come.'

The queen turned then, beginning her walk back down the corridor, Rey hurriedly following after her. 'I think I'm going to show you the gardens first,' she murmured, a finger tapping absently at her chin.

 **XxX**

Mar lurched and let out a groan at the sheer weight of the gun that Xhona had thrown at his sleeping form, winding him and waking him from his dream.

'Honestly, did you have to?' He moaned, rubbing at his stomach and pushing the large rifle off him and onto the cot.

'I tried waking you up, but you didn't budge,' she murmured.

Mar glanced at Yonduun, who was tying a sash around his thigh, and the Iktotchi shrugged. Mar took that to mean that Xhona had not even attempted. His eyes went back to the Mirialan and she was pulling her long hair up and away from her face in a ponytail.

'A mission?' Mar questioned, noting that Xhona only ever tied her hair up when they were going to be fighting.

There was a twinge in her jaw that Mar caught, and his eyes narrowed. 'The Supreme Leader wants our assistance.'

He almost couldn't help the huff that came out of his mouth, and because of it, he was met with the fire of Xhona's glare as she turned to him in anger. When he had appeared on the ship after seeing Rey a mere five hours earlier, she had been nothing but cold, so it satisfied Mar at least a little that her ignoring him hadn't lasted very long. Mar considered that perhaps she wasn't as suspicious of him now.

Xhona didn't say anything else before leaving the bunk room, adjusting her sword belt as she moved towards the cockpit.

Mar climbed from the bunk and patted Yonduun on the shoulder before following after her, hurrying his steps so that when they both reached the helm, they both sat at the same time.

'Did Kylo say anything else?'

Her glower deepened as she buckled herself into the pilot's chair. 'I didn't speak with Kylo, it was one of his Lieutenants.'

Mar frowned, his brow twitching as he pulled the straps over his shoulders, wondering what could possibly have happened in such a short amount of time. It'd barely been three days since he'd last seen Kylo. That definitely wouldn't have been enough time for him to have found the Resistance, Mar was sure of that, so he doubted that Kylo was readying them for an attack.

Xhona flicked the switches on the helm, changing over from the auto-pilot's casual saunter through space to manual control. Mar grabbed onto the secondary control yoke and primed the thrusters for the trip.

'You don't think anything happened, do you?' Mar questioned, glancing at Xhona once more as he watched her set in the given coordinates.

She swallowed and only looked at him once the ship was fully primed for the hyperspace trip. 'It's suspicious, and it stinks of the Resistance.'

His brow raised without his control. 'You think?'

Xhona nodded. 'It's that girl, I know it. I told you we should have gone after her.'

Mar was silent for a moment. Rey would never have had enough time to fly off to the unknown regions, infiltrate the _Supremacy_ and cause damage to the First Order in the time since he'd left her. Yet he said nothing, and only gave Xhona a curt nod.

The Mirialan glanced behind her to see that Kem and Yonduun were buckled in and she pulled the hyperdrive lever. All four of them leant back into their seats at the force, and Mar tried to cycle through his thoughts as he watched the stars pass by in a blur.

There were several things he still had to unpack: Kylo and Rey's relationship was still an anomaly that Mar couldn't make sense of. If they were mortal enemies, why had Rey left him alive? Why did she seem to know him more than an enemy should? Kylo wasn't open to explaining himself where Rey was concerned, so it left further confusion among the knights that he wasn't willing to settle.

Mar sighed and decided on taking a brief nap to stave off the tension headache that all these warring thoughts caused in his mind.

When he woke, the ship was porting onto the _Supremacy_ and Mar could see Kylo standing and waiting, his hands behind his back and his mouth set in a hard line. There was a young female officer standing beside him, her expression pinched and a datapad clenched tightly in her hands.

Mar stood before they had fully docked and was at the doors before Xhona had set the ship down, grabbing Jojen's vibrosword as he went. He pulled the open latch and the ramp slid out with a hiss, Mar stepping out first and approaching Kylo.

The Supreme Leader gestured with his head and Mar followed him before the others could catch up. He didn't wait for them to get to a quiet part of the ship, he just spoke as soon as they were walking in step.

'Someone took the files,' Kylo said under his breath, and Mar sighed.

Those files didn't just contain data on Jedi and Sith temples, and all of the artefacts that Mar had kept from the other knights, but it also was the closest thing that Kylo had as a means of finding Rey. With enough patience, it could be a map that led to the young Jedi. Though Mar doubted that anyone would have the fortitude to extricate the information from the encrypted pads, it was a bad thing all the same.

'What will you do?' Mar questioned.

'I'm not sure. Without the Resistance base, I have nothing to follow. I can't be sure who in the First Order is against me and I don't have the time to be dealing with assassination attempts.'

Mar blinked and rubbed his temple. 'Assassination attempts?'

The Supreme Leader nodded, his gloved hands rubbing at the slight stubble on his chin. 'A trooper with a blaster. It was close. If I had been off my guard, he probably would have killed me.'

The Kiffar huffed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. 'You should just take him out now, Kylo. What's the use if this continues?'

'If you cut one head off, another will rise in its place.'

Mar could hear Xhona speeding up her steps to catch up with them, and as if automatically predisposed to anger Kylo, he murmurued. 'Surely you saw this coming?'

Kylo span at him, glaring, so Mar backed up, leaving Xhona to take his place by Kylo's side, a gleam in her eye.

The four knights as well as the Lieutenant—who Mar learned was called Wynn— followed after Kylo, bypassing his ready room and going straight to Snoke's old throne room. While it didn't maintain the red and chrome décor liked by the previous Supreme Leader, Snoke's throne had survived the partial destruction of the star dreadnought.

Kylo rounded on them all, not taking the seat, and leaving Mar to look at it absently, a line drawing down the middle of his forehead with apprehension. The room was filled with memory and Mar was barely able to resist the call of the Force.

He could already imagine what he'd see – the first-hand destruction of Snoke's influence over Kylo. This was the location of his greatest weaknesses, this is where Snoke had made him do whatever he bid, and Mar was at least thankful those days were over.

Yet Mar also knew that Snoke had died here, that the air had been filled with the stench of his last rancid breath and his blood had been left to curdle across this black durasteel floor. It satisfied Mar more than he had expected, and when he looked to Kylo, he realised the noticeable difference in how he held his shoulders. The burden had been lifted and the man was different. It wasn't that he resembled the old Ben, but he wasn't the Kylo that Snoke had sculpted him to be.

The thought made Mar pause, because only a fraction of time had passed, and yet Kylo was so different and from what? It was then that the Kiffar realised he hadn't been listening to Kylo speak and had only caught the end of his words — that the assassination attempts would likely continue.

Mar glanced at Xhona, and she had her hand grasped tightly onto the hilt of her sword, clearly frustrated at hearing the attempts on their leader's life.

'It's the girl, isn't it?' she barked out. 'Who's to say that the trooper wasn't in her pocket? Or with that other traitor trooper.'

'FN-2187?' Kylo asked airily, looking intently at Xhona.

She nodded curtly. 'You do not know what impact the Resistance has had on your crew. You are too quick to look at your officers for the blame.'

Mar raised a brow, wondering whether Xhona could possibly be correct, though at the same time, he wasn't so sure. There was an automatic reflex to not agree with her, even though Mar didn't know why.

There was a flash of some trepidation wash over Kylo's face, but he shook it away, meeting Xhona's eyes again. 'Instead of coming up with theories, we need to react to what's happening now. There are members of the First Order who are actively working against me and we need to weed them out. I've ordered you here because I need more man-power.'

Xhona nodded though reluctantly, Yonduun and Kem already seemingly in agreement with her. Mar sighed, moving past them all. He could feel Wynn's eyes on him, though the others ignored him, knowing that he preferred to keep back.

'What about the Resistance?' Yonduun questioned.

'Hux has his own plans,' Kylo murmured, closing his eyes in frustration.

Kem cleared his throat and eyes were on him. 'We could look for the base?'

Kylo was silent for a moment and nodded, Mar noting that he briefly looked over at him before agreeing. 'That might be a solution, however Hux's plans involve coaxing them out of their hiding hole.'

'Are the general's plans not suitable?' Wynn questioned.

Kylo's jaw tightened, and Mar sighed, knowing that Kylo was going to continue keeping things from these people. Mar didn't need to know the details of Hux's plan to know that the plans likely revolved around either genocide or another assassination of a head of state. The murder of the Chandrilan leadership seemed effective enough, so Mar considered he'd attack another Republic strong-hold.

Mar rounded the throne room, eyes on the gadgetry that it held before dropping onto the throne again as Kylo stumbled through his orders. He approached the throne and Mar could see a thin layer of grime still coated it. A quick clean had been done, and if he had a stronger sense of smell, Mar guessed that he'd have been able to smell rotted blood.

'The general's plans are drastic,' Kylo said steadily.

The Kiffar glanced back at them, noting that Xhona's shoulders were taught, and Wynn seemed more relaxed than the Knights. Mar looked back at the throne and headed up the pedestal, looking back at them and getting a sense of the distance.

Visualising the fight that had to have happened those many months ago was what made him so tempted to reach out towards the arm rest. He hadn't pulled his gloves back on since Xhona had woken him, so his bare palm slid across the chrome and he froze.

The vision was clear, unnaturally clear, and Mar put the cause of that on the sheer amount of the Force that had inhabited the room at the time. The room must have overflowed with power from not only Snoke, but Kylo and Rey too.

 _The Elevator had opened, the Praetorian guards' grips on their weapons tightening as Rey exited, her wrists bound in front of her and Kylo stepping behind her, pushing her forward._

 _'Well done my good and faithful apprentice. My faith in you is restored.' Snoke's voice was thick with smarm. 'Young Rey. Welcome.'_

Mar huffed, not understanding. She had been brought on the _Supremacy_ as a prisoner? Mar couldn't bring himself to move naturally, to act as if the past wasn't unfolding before him. Mar was right to believe that Rey could never have fought Snoke alone and won. Not with how he dominated her in this room.

 _The binders fell from Rey's wrists as she stood before Snoke, her expression passive and firm._

 _'Come in closer child. So much strength. Darkness rises and light to meet it. I warned my young apprentice that as he grew stronger, his equal in the light would rise.' The lightsaber was snatched from Rey's belt, flying into Snoke's hands. 'Skywalker, I assumed wrongly.' He gestured towards her. 'Closer I said,' pulling Rey towards him._

 _'You underestimate Skywalker, and Ben Solo, and me. It will be your downfall.'_

She'd known it all, Mar thought, his grip on the throne tightening as he saw. She'd known who Ben was the entire time Mar'd known her. Had Luke told her? He hadn't thought to ask what the young Jedi had possibly gleaned from the old master, but then Mar had assumed that the annoying old man would have kept everything from her. It was his M.O.

 _'Have you seen something? A weakness in my apprentice? Is that why you came?' He was mocking her, and Rey seemed to know it. 'Young fool. It was_ I _who bridged your minds._ I _stoked Ren's conflicted soul, I knew he was not strong enough to hide it from you, and you were not wise enough to resist the bait. And now you will give me Skywalker. Then I will kill you with the cruellest stroke.'_

Mar withheld his reaction, seeing it all so clearly for the first time. A forced bond between them that Snoke had been able to create? It made sense to Mar, then, that Rey could know so much and Kylo could be so unwilling to involve the others. Though if he wanted to find Rey on his own so badly, his intentions automatically became problematic. If he wanted to kill her, or capture her, the more of them the better, but if that was a lie, then Mar didn't know what to think.

 _'No.'_

 _'Yes.'_

 _'Give…me…everything.'_

 _Kylo was watching it all unfold, not budging from his position of reverence on the floor, even as Rey fought Snoke with little success, finding herself be thrown across the room and left to Kylo for her fate at Snoke's request._

If this had passed, Rey should have been dead, Mar thought.

 _Rey struggled against Snoke's grip on her as he spoke to Kylo, the man's face blank and watching._

 _'My worthy apprentice. Son of darkness, heir apparent to Lord Vader. Where there was conflict, I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength. Complete your training and fulfil your destiny.'_

 _Kylo reached for the lightsaber that Rey had foolhardily tried to wield against Snoke, his grip delicate and his eyes never leaving Rey's._

Mar couldn't see her face, couldn't feel what she must have felt at the time. He only saw the tightness in her shoulders, how they still struggled, how she fought Snoke's hold on her, even as Kylo stood before her, his grip on his weapon strengthening.

 _'I know what I have to do,' Kylo said._

 _'Ben.'_

 _'You think you can turn him? Pathetic child. I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten. I see his mind. I see his every intent. Yes. I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true.'_

Mar glanced up at Ben, seeing his wrist shift, though Snoke did not react to it.

 _'And now foolish child, he ignites it. And kills his true enemy.'_

The lightsaber ignited beside Mar and he looked down beside him, seeing it carve Snoke in two and Mar stumbled, letting go of the throne, but not before seeing the guards storm toward Rey and Kylo, the two of them wielding their lightsabers and joining in battle.

'Mar?' Xhona's voice was sharp as she glared over at him.

The Kiffar's eyes were everywhere, but his hand did not reach for the throne again. What more was there? Rey and Kylo had fought together, but somehow neither had truly won. Kylo had stayed and Rey had left. Now the words Leia had said in the memory he had gleaned from the canteen made sense. Kylo had not followed Rey after their fight, after they had killed all of the guards and Snoke himself, and she couldn't understand why.

'For kriffs-sake Mar.' Xhona marched toward him and grabbed the neck of his shirt, pulling him up. 'Are you suddenly sick?'

He shook his head, looking to Kylo whose face was blank. This was the lie he had been keeping. Mar would have been impressed by his gall if he weren't amazed by the reality of it all. A Force connection with his enemy? This must have been what had changed Kylo, and Mar couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not. He could still remember Kylo's sheer determination when he'd said he would kill Rey, and with his own hands.

Mar stood, brushing himself off and joined the group again, his eyes not able to part with Kylo. He didn't think he could face being alone with him, so when the supreme leader ushered them all to leave, he followed the group too.

'Finally lost your mind, Mar?' Xhona questioned, though even if the words seemed to jest, her face said very differently.

He sighed and shook his head. 'Sorry, I was distracted. Excuse me, I'm going to look for a 'fresher.'

'There should be one two hundred metres down that corridor,' Wynn remarked as he set off in the opposite direction.

It had come as no surprise to Mar when he had found that Rey at her centre, was open and naturally kind-hearted. Optimistic and hopeful, almost to a fault. There was a natural gravitation that the young woman held, and it seemed as if a person could easily be pulled into her light, fall into her comforting orbit.

Perhaps then, it made sense that Kylo had thrown Snoke away. Even if it wasn't solely for her, she had been the catalyst in his own mind. Mar, nor the other knights, particularly Jojen, had ever liked Snoke — they saw him as a fetid old man whose powers kept them yielding to him. When Kylo had first brought them to him, Mar had been frightened thinking of what the Force user could possibly have done to Kylo to convince him that if it weren't Luke that he should follow, it should be Snoke.

Mar saw Rey's ability as a talent, and the years with the Knights made him see it as another skill that could be used to manipulate. He sighed, frustrated with his own waring mind. The mindset had been easy to fall into, yet even years of self-reflection left him still floundering in the mud, trying to pull himself over a hill to some semblance of what he had been as a younger man. What he was even before the Academy.

It was easy for him to dwell in those memories. Though he hadn't kept many of his possessions from back then, what he had, still had memories attached to them, and Mar knew it was the one reason that he couldn't just leave the others behind. It was purely sentimental, and perhaps he was a fool to maintain that the relationships he'd had since he was 16, still deserved his care and protection now.

He rubbed a hand down his face, the sharpest memory coming back to him – him, Xhona and Ben, fighting each other for recognition from Luke. For the responsibilities he would bestow on only his best students.

Luke never chose Ben, even if he was the strongest in the Force, even if he could knock most students down with the brute use of the Force alone. Ben always held a grudge and Mar could see it was more than a lack of fighting finesse that had Luke avoiding his nephew.

Of course, Mar knew now. He'd known from the moment that Ben had said what Luke had done — had tried to do. It was the truth, or the closest thing to the truth, and it had been enough. They were brothers, Mar would have done anything for him. Yet Rey had now thrown an unknown quantity into the mix, and if Kylo was even keeping secrets from Mar, then what was he meant to do now?

 **XxX**

Queen Kamiela's expression drew away from her frown and she leased a breath, meeting Rey's eyes once more. They had stopped outside of Rey's room after seeing the sights of what Rey felt was the entirety of the palace. The conversation had not always been the easiest, but Rey had found herself easily laying most of her existence at the feet of the queen. She was easy to talk to, and Rey had no doubts as to why they had nominated her as queen.

'I will join my ministers for a moment before the banquet to fully enlighten them. Thank you for this Rey.'

'It's my duty, your Majesty,' she responded, reluctant to smile. Rey couldn't forget that she was here because the queen was in danger. It wasn't simply a trip to share information.

The queen took Rey's hand then, holding it tightly in her warm grip. 'Truly, thank you Rey. Though I find that I will likely repeat this sentiment before the night is done.' She grinned. 'I will have my seamstress provide you with an outfit for tonight, if you are comfortable.'

Rey nodded. 'I would be happy to accept.'

She gave her hand one final squeeze before departing, lifting her skirt slightly as she made her way down the hall. As if lying in wait, three handmaidens approached her, taking positions by her side, while the third knelt to lift her gown slightly.

Once she saw the queen pass down the hall, Rey retreated back into her guest room, finding that since she had left, the room had been entered and neatened once more. There was a bowl of freshly cut fruits on the side, and Rey took her pick, savouring the sweet and brightly coloured flesh.

Removing her lightsaber from within her clothing, Rey turned it in her hand, sitting on the edge of the large bed. She pulled her hair from the loose bun she had left it in after her shower and combed her fingers through the brown strands, before retying half of her hair away from her face and taking a deep breath.

Retreating into a brief meditation, Rey could sense something unbalanced. It seemed to come from Kylo and she frowned, wondering what was happening with him. She could not feel pain, but she felt discomfort and anxiety coming through the bond. While she knew it was for the best that he wasn't sitting beside her so she could ask, her heart told her to do something.

Taking a deep breath, she let calm fall over her. Rey placed her lightsaber beside her on the bed, breathing evenly. She didn't know —couldn't know whether it made a difference to Kylo, but she did it all the same.

She stopped once there was a knock on the door and she blinked, standing and moving towards it.

A handmaiden curtsied, a garment bag in her arms. 'Miss Rey, for you.'

'Thank you,' she responded, allowing the maid to walk inside and lay it on the bed.

'If you need assistance, please ring the bell beside the door.'

Rey nodded, and the young woman curtsied once more and left.

Turning back to the bag, Rey approached, unzipping it and reaching for the off-white outfit that sat within. It was a tunic that reached her knees with a pair of brown pants. Similar to her usual clothes, yet the tunic had deep pockets that Rey would be able to hide her lightsaber in. She pulled the tunic out, looking over the loose long sleeves and feeling the material between her fingers. It was just as soft as the clothing she was currently wearing, and Rey hastily got dressed.

Deciding to take a slower look around the palace, she tucked her lightsaber in her pocket and set off, greeting the guards she passed. As she made her way down a corridor she knew would take her to the large throne room, she stopped, noticing the paintings that lined the walls.

Rey looked over each painting, reading the inscription along the bottoms. They were paintings of queens and kings of the past, all dressed in beautiful gowns and robes, their faces painted white, with the same red dots on their cheeks and lips. She analysed their faces, and only stopped when one seemed familiar.

The queen's clothing wasn't much different from the others beside her, though she was incredibly beautiful. Rey thought her portrait was the most beautiful, though her eyes…they were familiar, yet Rey knew that she couldn't have met the woman before, because she had died before Rey had been born.

Then she looked at the inscription and Rey sighed, realising. It was Padme Amidala. Luke and Leia's mother and subsequently, Kylo's grandmother. The eyes she saw, they were Kylo's.

Rey huffed and then felt a chill, turning to see the queen beside her – outfitted in another gown, this one bright green.

'An incredible woman she was,' Queen Kamiela murmured. 'With an excellent legacy.' She met Rey's eyes and smiled, holding out her arm. 'Shall we go?'

The young Jedi nodded, though hesitated, the chill she had felt not having left her. Eventually, from the queen's confused expression, Rey followed after her, looking carefully about her as they moved through the corridor and into the throne room. Here they found themselves joined by several handmaidens and they passed through, walking toward the banquet room once more.

'When will the diners be arriving?' Rey asked, her concentration on her surroundings rather than on her words. She had a hand against the hilt of her lightsaber as it sat within her pocket.

'They will be trickling in soon enough. Once the kitchen staff have brought all of the food upstairs, we can begin the festivities.'

The queen was almost vibrating with excitement and Rey seemed to calm down at least a little. If almost the entirety of the guards and handmaidens were soon to be in the hall with them, at least the likelihood of something terrible happening was reduced.

Rey's eyes widened as they entered the banquet hall. Every table was covered in an assortment of food and drinks, and those who had already arrived, were dressed in their nicest clothes, milling about and talking with each other. They all looked to the door when the queen entered, and cheered her as she greeted them all.

Not letting her guard down, Rey followed closely beside the queen, allowing her to introduce her to the palace workers who had decided to attend.

More people milled in from the large double doors and Rey felt the temperature rise in the enormous room and she leased a breath, trying to cool herself down so that her mind remained sharp.

'Captain, shall we get a drink?'

Rey nodded, and they approached the drinks table. The queen poured herself a glass of wine, though Rey stuck to juice, and sipped at it gingerly, hating the feeling that she was being watched.

Once the room had reached its capacity, a minister that Rey had not met approached and the queen nodded, walking to the front of the room, her glass held high.

'Welcome everyone,' Queen Kamiela called out, attracting the attention of the large crowd.

Rey stood as close to her as possible without seemingly getting in the way, and she watched out over the crowd.

'I welcome you all to this years' Harvest Banquet, the 822nd in fact. Thanks to the hard-work of every citizen of Naboo, we have had another successful harvest and in true Naboo fashion, we will celebrate with food and drinks.'

The crowd cheered, and Rey paused. Her eyes caught on something within the rafters of the banquet hall, and she moved without another thought, her lightsaber in her hands as the sound of a blaster rang through the room. The deflection of the bolt hit a light fixture and Rey's eyes were wild as she stood in front of the queen, her weapon humming in her hands. Cheers quickly turned to screams and the guards within the room descended on the queen.

'Protect the queen,' Rey shouted as her eyes followed the would-be assassin. They seemed to crawl through the roof and Rey followed, moving as quickly as she could through the throng and gunning for the open double doors.

It was a man, she noticed by his build and run. She chased, her lightsaber deactivated, but still in the firm grip of her hand. His head-start on her meant that even with her pushing herself to her limit, the catch-up was slow.

Running through the large courtyard, she could see that security was thin along the parapets and Rey hoped that the guards had been elsewhere, rather than killed by whoever had tried to kill the queen.

Spotting him landing in one of the gardens, Rey changed her course, trying to cut him off by moving through one of the many sun rooms on the edge of the palace that the queen had shown her earlier.

She did catch up minutely and if she had a blaster, she most likely could have aimed and reached her target. Her legs were growing heavy as she ran, her heart beating painfully in her chest and then he stopped. He was at the edge of one of the palace's twenty metre walls, where only the waterfall lay on the other side.

Rey slowed, stopping several metres away, as he faced away from her, his gun slung across his back. She flicked the switch on her lightsaber, holding it in front of her, her stance solid.

'There is nowhere for you to go,' Rey shouted over the noise of the rushing water. Sweat dribbled into her eyes and she wiped at it quickly.

The man eventually turned, smirking at her. He had a cruel face, and Rey could see in his eyes that this wasn't the first time.

She advanced, and he pulled the gun from his back, shooting at her. Rey narrowly avoided a bolt with an opportune flip, though had to block another with her blade. She had gained a metre, however, though he seemed nonplussed.

'Do you really think you have won here?' he asked, his voice filled with malice.

Rey grit her teeth together, pushing towards him, though he let off two more bolts. Blocking them from this distance had her staggering and he took that opportunity to turn again. When Rey regained her footing, he had begun climbing the wall with a mechanical attachment at his belt, and then he was pulling himself over the edge.

She took a run, channelling the force and bounding full pelt at the wall, pushing herself upwards until she was able to grip the top of the wall before gravity began to fight against her once more. Pulling herself over, she looked about her, only hearing the loud gush of the waterfall and not finding the man. Even with the Force as her aid, she could not feel another life sign and she screamed, frustrated.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chunky chapter (yet again!). Sorry it's late!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

* * *

It took Rey several moments to take stock of her surroundings before she put her lightsaber away, jumped from the wall and moved swiftly back through the palace grounds and to her room. The communication panel was still set up, so Rey quickly dialled in her codes and waited as the connection was made. Leia popped up on the viewer and Rey huffed, realising that she had been holding her breath.

'What happened?'

'Assassination attempt,' Rey breathed, rubbing her hands along her face. 'I couldn't catch him, and I think he'll try again.'

'I'll get some fighters to you. Keep me updated.'

Rey nodded and cut the link, moving from the room again and running back to the banquet hall.

The place was a mess. In the panic, tables had been upturned, and food, wine and smashed crockery covered the floors. There were still some ministers and guards around, but most of the other guests had left.

Elderon turned, catching Rey's eye. She approached, taking a breath as she did. The ministers were gathered in a tight circle, talking quietly together, trying to remain calm.

'Is the queen safe?' Rey asked once she reached them.

The circle expanded and broke, all of the ministers looking to her. An older woman stepped forward, a frown on her face.

'What was this?' she asked simply.

Rey hesitated, looking into their faces. They were clearly very shaken, and Rey felt that it wouldn't have been right to lie any longer. 'I think the queen should be here to hear it.' She looked to the small door that she'd originally entered the room through – the one that led to the throne room. 'I'd feel more comfortable involving her.'

Elderon nodded despite the ministers arguing between themselves, several of them giving her glares of distrust. The man led them away, however, through the throne room and then through to a corridor that seemed to wind through the palace. They stopped at a large metal door and once Elderon's identity was established, the door was opened.

Inside it wasn't much different from the dining area. Stone floors, wooden walls and an oval table sat in the centre. The queen was sitting at one end, guards and three handmaidens behind and beside her, her eyes closed as she sat.

'Have you all finally stopped arguing among yourselves?' she questioned before opening her eyes. They met with Rey's first and the young Jedi swallowed, steeling herself. 'Would you please sit if we are to have this conversation.'

Rey gave a curt nod and sat, the ministers filling the table. Elderon was left standing, and he took a position beside the door.

'Am I the only target?' the queen questioned first, looking squarely at Rey.

'Leia suspected that you would be targeted…she sent me here to make sure that any possible plans would be foiled.' She spoke slowly, carefully.

A minister huffed. 'You wouldn't warn us first?'

There was a lot of agreement and Rey could feel the anger in the room building.

'I apologise for being dishonest, however it was not an easy decision to make, you must understand this your majesty.' Rey blinked, her breath leaving her quickly. 'You must have heard Chandrilan leadership were murdered in their sleep several weeks ago.'

The queen nodded, though the ministers grew silent, looking to their sovereign.

'I had hoped it was simply a rumour.'

Rey shook her head. 'We have reason to believe that the First Order are looking to completely destabilise what remains of the Republic. It was deduced that you were the next likely target. If what we knew were to get out, it would jeopardise not only the contacts we have in the First Order, but your life too. We could catch the assassin out in the open.'

'Then where is he?' Elderon enquired from across the room.

She grit her teeth, looking at the minister. 'Unfortunately, he got away.'

The din began again, the ministers talking over each other until the queen raised a hand.

'Do you think he will come back?'

Rey nodded. 'I do not believe they will stop.'

Queen Kamiela was quiet and pensive, nibbling softly on the corner of her lip that remained white.

'And you. Who are you?'

Rey looked to the female minister who had spoken earlier and she twitched. 'I am Rey. General Organa sent me here.'

'You wield a lightsaber,' another spoke. An older man.

'Are you a Jedi?' This question came from a handmaiden at the queen's side, and the room became silent again, though everyone looked at her like she was a fire breathing Lothcat. Awe and fear.

She nodded steadily.

'Well at least Leia sent her best, considering Rey here is the only Jedi in the galaxy,' Gilderoy said casually. The man was leaning back in his chair, seemingly relaxed now that the current drama was over.

'It would have been nice to know.' Queen Kamiela breathed, narrowing her eyes at Rey. 'This is very poor form, regardless of the potential repercussions.'

Rey nodded. 'We had hoped that it would not come to this, that our information was not accurate.'

The queen huffed and nodded, pushing her chair back and abruptly standing. 'Well I suppose this means extra guards. Rey, you'll be with me. It is probably best to have you dressed as one of my maidens, especially if you have been compromised.'

Rey hadn't considered that. The assassin had seen her face, he knew she had a lightsaber. It wouldn't take much to pass that information on to someone else. Before she had been somewhat incognito, but this meant that she had a potential target on her back too. She nodded, agreeing with the queen.

'I have contacted Leia, and she will be sending several fighters here.'

'That's good to know.'

Queen Kamiela moved to the door, despite the objection of several of the ministers, and she dismissed them as a guard pulled on the door. It opened into a lavish lounge area and Rey quickly realised these were the queen's quarters.

Guards took their places on the exits, while the handmaidens led Rey away, likely to give her new clothes.

Rey couldn't help but berate herself as she pulled on the flame-coloured robes, frustrated that she had missed her opportunity to get rid of the First Order's assassins.

 **XxX**

By the time Mar had exited the 'fresher, the corridor was empty. He was thankful that he had a few moments reprieve at least, because his thoughts were still a jumble and he couldn't unsee what Kylo had done – he had killed Snoke himself. Mar considered he was half impressed that the man had done it. After all those years, he'd been willing to take care of the ghoul himself and with actual success. Mar had half-imagined Snoke being a presence over their lives until the day they all died.

Mar started walking aimlessly, feeling out delicately with the Force in any particular direction where there was a large number of people.

Lieutenant Wynn was leaning against a wall on his third turn and Mar cocked his head at her, his eyes narrowing. She was waiting. If for him, he thought it strange, particularly with her timing and placement. The ship was the size of a city, so it felt like too much of a coincidence that he would cross her path.

'Where did the others go?' Mar questioned.

Wynn straightened, fixing her clothing and cap. 'I think the Iktotchi and Pantora went back to your ship.'

Mar rolled his eyes. The two fools had probably gone to nap. 'Yonduun and Kem,' he corrected for her.

She nodded. 'The Mirialan…'

'Xhona,' he amended.

'Yes, she went to debrief about Vardos with General Hux.'

He narrowed his eyes, but decided not to comment. He was tired of dealing with Xhona's actions. He had already told her that Hux was not their leader, so if she was attempting to get the truth out of the general through her own methods, then she would have to face Kylo.

Mar sensed something peculiar just as Xhona passed down a distant parallel corridor, tucking several datapads into her satchel. He turned, looking at Wynn, who was looking at him intently, almost as if she smelled something strange and was trying to figure out what it was.

'The Supreme Leader suggested that you speak with him alone.' Wynn murmured.

He nodded, glancing back briefly at Xhona, who had disappeared from view. Mar hesitated before he began following after Wynn as she began her way down the hall, likely going to wherever Kylo now was. Walking into step beside the Lieutenant, he looked at her carefully. Mar found it highly irregular that Kylo would trust someone he seemingly had not known for very long. Yet he had allowed this officer to listen in on his talks with the knights.

'Were you there, during the assassination attempt?' Mar questioned.

Lieutenant Wynn nodded. 'If not for the Supreme Leader, the bolt would likely have killed me.'

Mar frowned. 'And you feel as if you owe him something?'

She paused, her brow furrowing, and she looked at Mar. Their similar heights meant that their gazes were level considering. 'I am simply doing my duty.'

'And what of your general?'

She cleared her throat and looked ahead. 'If General Hux is committing treason, then it must be exposed.'

Mar smiled, looking up at the ceiling. 'I imagine that First Order whistleblowers aren't exactly treated fairly, no matter who they are taking down.' She was silent, and when Mar looked at her again, her jaw was tight. There was something else and Mar was good enough at reading people to know that his thoughts weren't unfounded.

'Lieutenant Wynn.'

'Yes?' She didn't look at him.

'Can you be trusted?'

Her head turned then, cocking to the side in confusion. 'Is that a question for your sake or the Supreme Leader's?'

'I'm considering where your true loyalties lie, considering you were one of the officers to survive the _Supremacy_ weren't you, and I doubt you want that to occur again?'

'How do you know I was there?'

Mar smiled. 'I hadn't, I was checking.'

She seemed annoyed and they stopped walking, Wynn crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at Mar now.

'Self-preservation is the foundation on which the Human species is built on. In that respect, the nature of humans is very difficult to change, even with brainwashing. Some things are fine in theory, or even on your datapad, but seeing is another matter altogether. Watching the First Order relentlessly hunt innocents must be quite grating for many of your lot.' Lieutenant Wynn's eyes were shaking, and Mar stepped back, nodding his head once. 'FN-2187 was no fool, Wynn, and I hope you and other likeminded individuals realise before it's too late.'

He moved off then, knowing where he was going and leaving the Lieutenant behind. Despite it being unlike him, he looked back at Wynn, who stood staring after him. It gave him a chill, and he hurried his steps, dreading meeting with Kylo for the first time in his life.

It was unexpectedly Kylo's quarters that Wynn had dropped him off to, and the door opened as soon as he approached, Kylo looking solemn on his small dining table. Mar paused at the door before stepping through, the door closing behind him.

'Well?' he questioned. 'Did you find the base?' His voice was filled with an urgency that Mar didn't hear often.

Mar shook his head, and surveyed Kylo purposefully. Was he so hellbent on finding the base just so he could find Rey, even though she was barely there? Mar narrowed his eyes and it seemed to click into place for him. 'You do not want Hux to execute his plan, do you?' Kylo looked affronted, but Mar shook his head to stop him from talking. 'What kind of Supreme Leader do you plan on being if you pick those you're trying to conquer over your men?'

'You have no idea, Mar.'

'I'm sure I do,' he responded automatically, rolling his eyes. 'You might have become a formidable warrior, but you remain a fool. Why wouldn't it be Hux trying to get rid of you as soon as possible? He probably feels owed.'

'What? Because he has more backbone than me?' He was angry, though unlike Mar expected, he didn't lash out.

Mar simply laughed, shaking his head and sighing. 'No, because he doesn't waste his resources. People trust him to execute their ideals. Who are your people? The lone Lieutenant who smells suspiciously like she isn't normal?'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

The Kiffar huffed and shook his head. 'A life trapped on stuffy starships was never meant to be yours, Ben Solo.'

Kylo stood abruptly, lurching for Mar, though he jumped back. 'Is this you finally showing your true colours?'

'I'm being realistic. You are fighting for this place, but for what?' _You could just burn it down, you'd be better off doing what you did to the Temple, here_ , Mar almost added, though decided to leave it out. There was only so much he could topple Kylo with.

'Find the base,' the Supreme Leader grit out, teeth firmly wrenched together.

Mar just nodded unenthusiastically.

The fact that he'd seen what Kylo had done for Rey suddenly seemed like a figment of his imagination. The man in that memory couldn't possibly exist, not when Kylo was constantly petulant and blind to logical decisions.

Mar left the room, deciding to look for Wynn once more. Using the Force made it easy, and he found her chewing on synthetic protein in one of the many humongous canteen halls. She had a datapad she was scrolling through in one hand and she glanced up at him when he approached.

'Know an empty room I can spend a sleep cycle?'

She put her fork down and flicked through the pad for a moment before turning it to him. He memorised the coordinates and turned, grabbing a protein ration as he left the canteen and began the three kilometre walk to the cabin he could sleep in.

It was an uncomfortable handful of hours of sleep. Not because the bed was particularly bad, Mar had definitely experienced worse, but because his thoughts kept going to Rey. Just as he had lied to Rey, she had lied to him. It didn't matter if she was trying to deny whatever Kylo might have felt for her — that he may have truly killed Snoke for her more than himself, it was all the same.

On waking from his fitful sleep, Mar quickly showered and left the room, looking to meet with the others on the ship. He had to give them something, or else this was going to become more problematic.

If he gave them the task of finding the base, at least he could occupy himself with meeting with Rey again and perhaps getting more solid information out of her.

There was a chance, and one that Mar had not considered before, that if she still held some semblance of the hopes she had for Kylo when she had come onto the _Supremacy_ in the first place, maybe she was still interested in extricating Kylo from the First Order. It meant that their intentions might cross over — to not just destroy the First Order, but to separate Kylo from it too.

Mar sped down the hallways, following the wall maps to the hanger bay they had docked in. It was an annoyingly long walk, and it took him twenty minutes and several lifts to get there.

There was a moment of confusion as he looked around the vast and mostly empty hanger. For a moment he thought he'd gotten the number wrong, but he'd asked a stormtrooper and had confirmed his location.

His eyes narrowed, not understanding why they would have left without him. He'd never been left behind before. A cold feeling came over him then, and Mar knew it well enough to know that it was the small quantity of foresight he'd inherited from his grandfather. He closed his eyes tightly as he sifted through his satchel for his communications device.

It was as his fingers closed around it, that it began to buzz, and he placed the small speaker into his ear, relaxing his breathing.

'Mar?'

It was Yonduun, and the Kiffar resisted hissing.

'Where are you?'

'Xhona has ordered us to go to Naboo.'

'Without me?' he snapped.

Yonduun was silent for a moment and Mar realised he had been whispering.

'I don't know why, either. She wouldn't explain it to us. Said we are doing important work, that we'll have the solution to Kylo's assassination problems soon enough.'

Mar sighed heavily. 'Drop the connection, I'll follow you.'

The line went dead and Mar grit his teeth together as he looked through the large hanger exit.

 **XxX**

Rey rolled her shoulders as she stood, unused to being in this position beside the queen for as long as she had been. It wasn't exactly exhausting work, but she was incredibly unpractised in standing still. It had never been a part of her life.

She was mostly thankful that the assassin had not returned during the night while the queen slept, nor in the hours since she had woken. Leia had sent a message notifying her that ships were docked on Naboo's moons Onoam and Veruna, and that an alarm could have them in the atmosphere within five minutes. Rey hoped that it didn't come to that, and that the assassin would either not return, or would be caught.

Her lightsaber was yet again tucked into the folds of her clothing and Rey cricked her neck, blushing profusely when the queen glanced up at her from her paperwork with mirth.

'I thought for Jedi, endurance was key.'

Rey chuckled. 'I don't remember reading that.'

'This is mostly just my imagination. You're a living myth, so you can excuse me for having some fun.'

She grinned and nodded, straightening her shoulders and holding her head high, despite the hood that still partially hid her eyes.

'I'm not so used to standing still, your majesty.'

Queen Kamiela nodded just as Minister Elderon walked in, a quick glance at Rey before approaching the queen. 'We lost five palace guards in the attack, your majesty.'

She nodded, her lips set in a grim line. 'Please notify their families, I will visit them as soon as possible. That is okay, yes Rey?'

Rey nodded. 'That should be manageable.'

'Perhaps not today,' Elderon murmured, before noting something down and briskly leaving the room.

'Thank you again for being here, Rey,' the queen started. 'I imagine that—.'

Her words were cut off by the distant sound of canon fire, and Rey moved in front of the queen, the guards automatically and quickly approaching.

'What is that?'

Rey frowned, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath, feeling out for what was happening outside. She could feel death and fire, Darkness taking hold and snuffing out the Light. 'Take her majesty away.'

She didn't have to say any more as the guards led Queen Kamiela hastily away, executing the planned escape route from the palace and half way across the planet.

There was a loud crash and Rey turned towards it, her lightsaber in her hands as she stood in the centre of the throne room. Rey hoped that an alert had been sent to the starfighter pilots, as well as to Leia.

While Rey had known that the assassin wasn't subtle, blowing up parts of Theed seemed insane to her. It was as if the First Order were putting a giant sign up saying they had been here and caused this destruction.

Screaming began then, and Rey felt sweat bead at her temple, despite the breathable fabric she wore. She pulled the hood down, wiping lightly at the sweat on her neck. Her nerves unsettled her, and she felt fear in the pit of her stomach as she held her lightsaber before her, hands tight on the hilt.

Her heart was beating too fast, and she knew it. It was distracting, because it had the bond stirring in her chest – Kylo was noticing it and therefore she was noticing him. She hadn't realised before that he could possibly be a distraction to her, but here he was.

Rey still berated herself, because her heartrate continued to speed up, and she wasn't even fighting yet. She was standing in a defensive pose, her eyes on the door as noises continued to erupt throughout the palace.

Shouting began closer to the palace until Rey could hear the distinct sound of a ship landing in the courtyard outside.

The beacon was already gleaming on her wrist, and she glanced down at it, making sure it was transmitting her location before she ignited her lightsaber.

Several deep breaths passed her lips as she stood in the throne room, sensing three figures as they approached the building.

The doors burst open at the impact of an explosive bolt, and Rey shielded her eyes before standing her ground again, her attention narrowing in on the three unfamiliar figures. Though perhaps they were somewhat familiar, because their black clothing and helmets wasn't too different from Kylo's. The only difference was that they did not bear red lightsabers. One had two daggers tucked into their hips, a large blaster in their hands, another an electrostaff, while the third, who stood further forward, had a gleaming sword in their hands.

'You.' The voice was female, and Rey narrowed her eyes, preparing herself for a fight. 'It is you, is it not?'

'Who are you to come to this place and attack these people?' Rey questioned.

The woman laughed, her sword dropping low as she stepped forward. 'You may as well put down your weapon. You will not win here.'

Rey huffed, but saw the two others walking slightly out of step with the woman. She was the leader, it was clear. And in the circumstance of a fight, they would not take turns.

'What do you want?' Rey questioned.

'You.' Rey could tell the woman was smiling as she answered, and that chilled Rey more than she would have liked to admit.

It was better that it was Rey here. Not the guards, nor the handmaidens and certainly not the queen. As long as the queen was safe, the Republic was still safe. Even if Rey had to hold them off until the queen could be taken to a safer location outside of Theed, that was all the better. She could do that much. She had faced off against eight of Snoke's guards. Even if that had been with Kylo…who wasn't here…who hadn't followed her.

Rey shook her head, ridding herself of the thought. Attempting to think of some sage advice that potentially Luke or Obi-Wan would have tried to give her. It didn't work however, and she felt her hands shake with unfounded nerves.

'See how she trembles, Yonduun.' She laughed once more. 'Perhaps we deluded ourselves to Snoke's power all along if she was to best both him and Kylo.'

'You should all leave here.'

Rey couldn't shake the idea that these people – these knights – had been sent by Kylo. They were his to command, so who else would have sent them? Perhaps she had been wrong this whole time? Hehad said she was important to him, yet he had sent his knights for her.

'Don't worry too much. You will not die straight away, it is quite a process we have prepared.'

Rey lifted her other hand then, pushing back at the woman. She did fall back, and there was an aggravation in how she regained her posture.

'Will you rely on Force tricks?' she questioned. 'Because you will have a difficult time fighting us with that alone.'

They came at Rey at once, and Rey pushed at the man with the two daggers — Yonduun and the other —Kem, away with the Force, parrying the woman's sword with her lightsaber. Rey had no idea what the weapon was made of, but it managed to withstand the heat of her own.

Strikes came again, and Rey dodged, though swung too widely, not finding purchase. They struck at her in tandem, not giving any reprieve, as if this had been something they'd been training to do for years. Because they knew eachothers' moves so well, the timing of their attacks quickly overwhelmed Rey, no matter how much she blocked, dodged and pushed at them.

What became clear after several narrow misses from Yonduun's twin daggers, was that the woman was getting more and more erratic, falling out of time with the men. It was as if she was launching a personal assault against Rey, and she managed to kick the Jedi's legs from under her, leaving her sprawling on the floor. That earned Rey the end of the electrostaff and she spasmed, her lightsaber falling from her hands.

Rey spun up, spacing herself out as she glanced at the hilt of her weapon and then the advancing knights. Her hand reached out and she pulled back when the sword looked to take her hand. Her lightsaber fidgeted on the floor as she dodged once more and backed up, taking a huge leap to distance herself.

Rey tried again to call to her lightsaber and it came while she simultaneously slid on to the floor, kicking out Yonduun's legs. Her newly-ignited weapon carved through his shoulder and he groaned, holding the wound and dropping his weapons.

It seemed to fill the woman with rage and she lurched, dragging the edge of her blade through the gap that Rey had left in her defences. The sword smoothly tore a gash through Rey's side and the young Jedi stumbled, almost slipping in her freshly spilled blood.

'Give up. Or do you want us to take you in pieces?'

Rey readied herself again, trying to work through the pain in her side. Frustratingly, she thought of Kylo's own wound on Starkiller, how he had used it to give him strength. Rey couldn't understand how it could possibly work and her chest ached with the desire to ask him why he had done it, why he thought that channeling his pain into action would be effective.

A wide swing came at Rey again and she ducked. The electrostaff came next, knocking her back and then the sword once more. It nicked her scalp and she groaned as blood flowed down her temple and into her ear.

The man seemed to be pulling his swings now, eyes continuously darting back to his fellow knight, who still squirmed on the stone floor.

Rey renewed her stance once more, shoes slipping in blood and her left leg tiring quickly.

 _The queen had to have been taken to safety by now_ , Rey thought.

She defended a slash and while she held the sword above her head, the man neared her. Rey's eyes grew as she pushed back, trying to slip and flip out of the way, though she was boxed in and the lightsaber was out of her hands when she was knocked to the floor by the full force of his body. A hand was around her throat then and she felt a fist hit her hard in the temple.

Her vision went spotty and then she was hit again, and it went black.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

* * *

Mar's eyes widened as he looked over the destruction the three knights had wrought. They had seemingly dropped charges in a path towards the Palace of Theed, destroying buildings and killing those who got in the way, the injured and mourning weeping in the streets. A destroyed X-Wing that had caved in a local restaurant alerted Mar to the fact that there had at least been a Resistance presence here, and therefore it was likely they would return in larger numbers.

It had taken Mar longer than he would have liked to find a ship to fly from the _Supremacy_ and by then, the knights had long since left Naboo.

Mar couldn't understand why they would have left him behind, nor what they could have possibly been doing on Naboo, especially for what seemed to be less than three hours. Where were they going now and why so fast?

He knew he should have told Kylo before he left, yet instead Mar had found himself in the Supreme Leader's ready room instead, haphazardly gathering First Order files that he knew he could access with Kylo's codes. If the Knights were moving on Hux's orders, they were either becoming a liability, or they already were.

Mar bee-lined towards the palace, running as fast as he could. It had little defence, so he slipped inside with little effort. Much of the damage to the palace itself was to the main courtyard, the tiles in its centre pulled up from the earth. The large entrance building, which Mar imagined contained the throne room, had its doors caved in and he slowed his pace, pulling his glove off his right hand and grazing his palm across the rubble.

Mar saw flashes of what had happened – of Xhona, Kem and Yonduun moving swiftly through the palace grounds, dispatching of the few guards that engaged with them, until they reached the doors of the massive building that hung off the courtyard.

The air of the entrance hall and adjoining throne room was still filled with the thick metallic smell of blood and Mar could see the pools of the darkening liquid. His brows furrowed as he drew closer to the scene, bending down to look over the blood. There were two separate pools of, though the one nearest the door was a deeper hue. Mar dipped his fingertips into it, rubbing it between his fingers before smelling it. This was Yonduun's blood, and by the quantity and direction of flow, he had most likely been half-carried out.

Mar stood again, approaching the second patch. He knew it was not Xhona's or Kem's by the colour, but it had to have been someone who could fight if they had injured Yonduun so badly. He looked about the room for an object to touch that had been involved in the fight, yet there was nothing but the blood.

Instead, Mar closed his eyes, inhaling through his nose as he reached out with the Force for his answer. He could still feel the remnant shadows of the other knights within the room, though on concentrating on the fourth person, he felt ice flow through his veins — it was familiar, and he squeezed his eyes closed tighter trying to reign in the overwhelming anger that streamed through him. Rey had been here — it was her blood, and Xhona had done this — she had led them all here.

The possibility that they had succeeded in killing the queen too set Mar on edge, because this changed everything. This was them in Hux's pocket and Mar was not going to be subject to the instruction of a tyrant ever again, it didn't matter who they were to him — who Xhona was supposed to be to him. Yet, it was clear enough that the city was not mourning a dead monarch, and the palace was practically empty, as if the queen had taken its people with her. So if they had come to assassinate the queen and failed, then why had they left so quickly without the job being done?

Mar removed the communicator from his belt, looking for a signal to connect him to Rey. The connection was strong, telling Mar that its twin was close by and he set it to transmit its location, following the device to its end. The communicator took him deeper within the castle, through a half-collapsed dining room, and then down several corridors, all of them silent. He eventually reached a door at the end of a corridor, half-ajar.

The room was decorated in a multitude of pastel pinks and oranges, silk material draped across the ceiling and flowers and snacks were placed on most surfaces. A communications panel sat by a desk, and on the bed sat the clothes he had last seen Rey in, as well as her satchel. Her communicator blinked from within and he huffed, frustrated as he reached toward it.

Her lightsaber was not here, so Mar placed the bag back down and retraced his steps back to the entrance hall. This time he noticed the droplets of blood that led out of the building and it was easy enough to see that the blood belonged to Rey. He hesitated before following it outside, knowing he wouldn't like how this ended up.

Where the blood flow had worsened, there were track marks and Mar could see that Rey had been dragged out, likely unconscious, and he found himself punching a nearby wall, screaming in frustration.

This was a complication he had never worked into his plans, and if the knights now had Rey, not only did Xhona have her object of vengeance, but Kylo would have the leverage he wanted, and Mar still wasn't quite ready to think about what that would mean for Rey.

Taking the same route back to his ship, Mar kept his communicator on, hoping that Yonduun would send him another message. From what little navigation the device could give him, it showed they were travelling to the edges of the Outer Rim. Once he was back on board, Mar scanned the planets in the area on the nav chart, his mind whirring with the knights' possible destinations.

He glanced at his communicator as it sat on the edge of the pilot's helm, becoming more anxious. If the Iktotchi had felt the need to contact him in the first place, why had he not done so again? Was he that badly injured?

As Mar stared back out the viewport, the thought came to him, despite him fighting against it. Xhona was still following Hux's orders, so there was a chance that they had only taken Rey because they'd had the opportunity. Though Mar still couldn't reconcile with himself how Hux had possibly convinced Xhona to assassinate the queen of Naboo, not when it was the exact opposite of what Kylo wanted.

Mar's eyes flickered over the navigational chart again and they settled on Drexel. It made sense. The planet had become a safe house of sorts for them, and the last time they'd used it, was to imprison and interrogate a suspected spy on Snoke's orders.

Rubbing his gloved hands over his face, trying to fight his own frustration in himself, he readied the ship for flight, hoping that he'd get his answers soon.

 **XxX**

Kylo woke with a start.

He was trembling and coated in sweat. He sat up, kicking at the bed covers and almost falling from his cot trying to extricate himself from them. His heart was beating too fast and he knew it was something beyond himself.

Pausing, he took a moment to feel out for the bond, reaching gently towards it. It was still and silent, as if Rey was asleep, but dreamless. He didn't know how to trigger the bond, didn't know how to contact her, so he folded himself on the floor, forcing himself to meditate.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting him from his concentration. The knocking was insistent though, so he granted access, finding Lieutenant Wynn standing at the door, a grave look on her face. Kylo moved out of the doorway so that the young officer could pass through before any words were exchanged between them. The Lieutenant turned once she was inside, and the door was once more closed, Kylo feeling her trembling from across the room.

'What?' He asked gruffly, frustrated and feeling his panic steadily rise.

'General Hux sent Captain Opan to Naboo, and he's ordered three battalions there for an air and ground assault. From what I understand, the Resistance are expected to follow soon enough.'

Kylo took a breath, working through the meaning of her words. 'How do you know this?'

'I intercepted a communique. Supreme Leader, this is the start of Hux's plan, I know it.'

'How do you know his plan, Wynn?'

The officer closed her lips tightly and Kylo watched her carefully. His thoughts went back to Mar's words – perhaps there was something that she was hiding, and if she were able to hide it from him, Kylo would be supremely impressed.

Wynn squared her shoulders and held his gaze. 'I don't want this, sir, I don't think it's right,' she paused, taking a breath. 'They are not terrorists, are they?' Her voice was sad, and Kylo suddenly understood.

'This is a First Order ship, you are a First Order lieutenant. You will follow instruction, Wynn.'

She shook her head. 'I will follow your orders, sir, because I know you are not seeking the destruction of Naboo, nor the other planets that Hux plans to dismantle and commit genocide on.'

'Stop.'

'I will not, sir.'

'Then what will you do?' he responded angrily. First Order leadership had fallen through his fingers like water, and Kylo had stood no chance in keeping it collected within his grasp. He was not only a failure, he was a fool. It would have been easy to kill Hux before. He had killed Snoke. It would have been easy to follow Rey and yet he hadn't and what did he have to show for it?

His heart ached at the thought, feeling a resounding emptiness within his head that rang loudly, reverberating against the walls of his mind, reminding him that Rey wasn't with him, she wasn't here, and it frightened Kylo.

'I will do my best, and hopefully you will not stop me.'

Kylo didn't know what to say, until Wynn's shoulders relaxed and with that, whatever wall she had put up against him gently fell away, and someone else stood in front of him — with the same face, the same outfit, just simply different.

'You—'

'You will follow your path, sir, won't you? You will do what is right?'

Wynn did not wait for his answer, she simply side-stepped him and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Kylo stood motionless for minutes, his power breaching him and reaching out with the Force. There was too much ambivalence on the ship, too many minds tuned to Hux and his rhetoric, so what could Kylo possibly do? The general had brainwashed nearly every single soul on board, and Kylo was only accepting the reality of this now. It would never matter what he could do as Supreme Leader, if his power over Hux was not absolute. He was not Snoke, and no matter how much Kylo was relieved by that, it was a crutch that he was too late to rectify.

Mar had been right. He had been so unwilling to change, yet this world had never included him in the first place.

His hands turned into fists and he fixated on reaching out for Rey once more. She had been right, their thoughts were unresolved, even though Kylo was resolute in his own feelings for her. He would not make the same mistake once he could see her again, he would make the better choice, it was the only thing he had left now.

There was a twinge in his chest and he felt the stirring of the bond again, awake and he breathed out, falling into relief, but halting when a slice of pain tore through him and he hit the floor of his quarters, panting as his waist screamed in pain. It a few moments before he realised that he was groaning, twisting in phantom pain on the floor.

 **XxX**

Rey was cold and slightly damp. For a moment she thought that perhaps she had been caught in the rain, but the pain in her side reminded her that she'd been in a fight, and the dampness was her blood and the sweat caused by her humid surroundings.

Then she realised that she couldn't move. Not in any marginal amount — as she sat in a chair with tight cuffs at her wrist and ankles.

It was only when she began blinking, fighting against the ache in her temple, that she realised that her eyes had been open. Wherever she was devoid of much light other than a keyhole in the door across from her.

She cursed, trying to use the Force, but finding resistance. Her arms were weak, and Rey sensed it was due to blood loss. Blood still steadily oozed from the wound at her waist, taking its time in clotting, though she considered that if it wasn't cleaned soon enough, she'd have other issues to deal with.

Her eyes skittered around the room, looking for some method of escape as her eyes began to adjust to the dark. It was just as she noticed a slight breeze coming through a corner of the room, that the door was kicked open, and a woman with pale green skin and facial tattoos walked in, lighting a gas lamp in the ceiling. The sword that had wounded Rey was in her hand, so the young Jedi made the simple deduction that it was her she had fought.

The woman smiled, turning the sword in her hand and approaching.

'Comfortable?'

Rey did not respond, just met the woman's eyes steadily.

'Don't misunderstand me. I have no intention of being kind.'

The young Jedi sighed, rolling her eyes. 'Your leader has unsuccessfully tortured me for information before, do you think you will succeed?'

She laughed, her smile widening. 'Is that right? And I'm sure he used the Force?'

Rey hesitated, not answering, though the woman seemed to understand the silence.

'I will not. You might be more receptive when the threat of your limbs is at stake.'

'What do you want?'

She began to walk around her, forcing Rey to follow her and merely sense her when she passed behind.

'A number of things, though I suppose we can start with the location of your base.'

Rey sighed, closing her eyes. 'I won't tell you that.'

Xhona shrugged. 'I'm sure that I can get answers out of you eventually.' She lifted the sword again, holding it gently against Rey's neck, resting it on her shoulder. Rey felt the blade nick her throat and she strained away from it.

'If I bleed out, I doubt you'll get what you want,' Rey responded.

She nodded and lowered the sword. Rey's sights moved from her to the figure who entered the room next – a Pantoran, his face grim. In the distraction of the new face, Rey missed Xhona sheathing her sword and rounding on her. A fist knocked the wind out of her when it connected with her stomach, and Rey huffed, squinting.

'Kem has a thing for electricity, so if my fists can't convince you, then I'm sure a few sparks will.'

Rey tried not to respond, though a muscle in her cheek jumped and Xhona had her jaw gripped in a hand, smearing the blood from her neck across her throat.

'I have a question,' Rey murmured, trying to keep her expression level. Xhona raised an eyebrow and Rey continued. 'How did you know where I was? Was it the assassin? You're with the First Order, aren't you?'

Xhona chuckled. 'The First Order? That relationship is transient and serves a singular purpose.'

'Then you just work on Kylo Ren's orders?'

'He is our leader, so we act according to what benefits him. Isn't that correct, Kem?'

The Pantoran nodded. He had moved to the corner of the room and was seemingly tinkering with a large battery – similar to the ones used on land-speeders.

The muscles in Rey's face fell and she shook her head absently. The litany of words and questions that passed through her mind did not escape her lips, however, and she just stared at Xhona, willing herself not to believe the Mirialan. Kylo would not...he could not have planned this for her.

'Had you not expected this revenge?' Xhona queried, squaring her jaw. 'Considering how young and unexperienced you are, you are supremely confident, aren't you?'

She glared at the woman who seemed to enjoy her anger. 'Then if it is your leader who wishes me here, shouldn't he be the one to torture me?'

'Then why would he need us if he did that himself?' Xhona questioned.

For a moment, Rey was convinced that perhaps the further Kylo was, the less he could feel of her over their bond. If he wasn't present, he could pretend that it wasn't happening, and perhaps that was what he wanted. She felt her eyes begin to cloud and she willed herself not to cry. She had been so convinced that even if he would not come to her, she could hope that something would change. That he had already changed, even minutely. Perhaps she had pushed him to this, and now she only had herself to blame.

'Are you willing to cooperate?'

Rey met her gaze, passive. 'I won't.'

'Very well.'

This punch hurt a little more, falling closely to the leaking wound at her side. Despite that, as the Mirialan let loose on her, bouncing from foot to foot somewhat revelling in causing Rey pain, Rey found herself being able to handle the pain a little better with each hit. Her vision grew slightly spotty, and her body hurt immensely, but she managed to maintain consciousness, her eyes darting around the room for some means out of this. For a moment she thought she saw Obi-Wan, sitting in the corner, his leg balanced on a knee, simply watching her, but the moment passed.

Rey wondered absently where the third Knight had gone. Had he died? His wound was bad, but she could see someone surviving it. The distractions helped, particularly as the other man began to connect electrodes to her fingers and toes.

 **XxX**

Mar set the landing sequence as he broke through Drexel's atmosphere. Rather than grabbing for Jojen's vibrosword as he had taken to doing, he reached for his lightsaber, attaching it to his belt, and covering it with the length of his jacket.

He opened the ramp once the ship had landed and he hurried his steps, feeling out first with the Force. Mar could sense Kem and Xhona quite easily, though there were two life-forces that were wavering in and out of consciousness, and he knew immediately that they had to have been Rey and Yonduun.

The doors to the base opened via an access code, and he pushed through, moving through the rooms quietly. Yonduun was sprawled on a cot in a bacta-suit in what had become a makeshift medi-chamber. The Kiffar approached carefully, Yonduun only becoming aware of Mar once he stood beside him.

'Mar?'

'What happened?' he hissed. Regardless of the things Mar had previously done, they were supposed to be a team, and for the Kiffar, it was sobering and uncomfortable being in the dark for a change.

Yonduun breathed unevenly. 'Xhona said Hux told her where the girl was. She said we needed to take the opportunity while it was there.'

'Without Kylo?'

'The three of us was enough.'

Mar swallowed, bile rising in his throat. 'What happened to the girl?'

'We brought her here,' Yonduun fidgeted and squinted in pain. 'I'm sure Xhona will get answers out of her soon enough.'

'You fools,' Mar murmured, closing his eyes. 'You don't see that this is her personal vendetta? This has nothing to do with Kylo or the First Order.'

Yonduun frowned and Mar was ready to continue when he heard steps behind him and he turned, seeing Xhona walk in, her gloved hands cracking beneath the leather. Mar's eyes narrowed on the action and then he met her face, seeing blood on her cheek.

'I thought I heard your voice. Nice of you to join us, it's good to know that Yonduun still can't help himself.' She glared at the Iktotchi, who just looked at the ceiling.

'Why would you do this without direct orders from Kylo?'

'I did this for the benefit of Kylo. Do not talk to me as if you truly care for his wellbeing, particularly with how often you disappear.'

Mar grit his teeth, approaching Xhona, close enough that they breathed the same air. She looked up at him smarmily and he took a heavy breath.

'Do you think that Kylo said to leave the girl to him for you to deal with her?'

Xhona narrowed her eyes. 'I will send our co-ordinates to him, Mar. What do you think this is?' She paused and smiled. 'Though I can't promise that she won't die before he gets here.'

Mar's hands tightened into fists and he pushed past her, moving toward the cells they kept in the back, his hands shaking. This was his fault. He should have made sure they didn't leave the _Supremacy_ , he should have paid more attention.

Rey was huddled in the corner of the cell, the chair in the centre abandoned and sprayed with fresh blood. The orange and red robes Rey wore were stained and ripped, too bright against the pale colours her skin had taken. She breathed gently. He could see blood soaked one side of her waist and down the trouser leg, and Mar's fist shook by his side, filling with anger.

He knelt, leaning and lifting her gently. She was unconscious, and a bruise bloomed at her temple, superficial cuts above her ear and at her neck.

'Rey?' he whispered, trying to coax her awake without alerting Xhona to what he was doing. Though she wasn't watching him, she could probably hear him if he were too loud.

He looked over the wound at her side, it was seeping blood, and it needed to be cleaned and sutured. By the quantity that clung to the fabric, he knew she had lost far too much. Xhona truly intended for her to die here, and he fought his anger against the Mirialan.

Rey stirred, blinking awake and she looked at him as if he were a ghost. Her eyes widened and then settled, a profound depression settling over her.

Her hand was soft against his cheek, Mar almost automatically moving out of her touch. There were tears in her eyes, not from pain, but shed from sadness. The way he looked at her confused him until she spoke.

'I'm sorry, Mar,' she mumbled. 'That they got you, I'm sorry.'

'What do you mean, Rey? What do you have to be sorry for?'

The flow of blood soaking her robes had slowed and Mar breathed easier, reaching towards his pack for his bacta bandages.

'I let them kill you. I'm sorry, Mar.'

His eyes met hers again, and her cheeks were coated in tears, her hand dropping to her side again. He felt his own heart squeeze, overcome by her goodness and how poorly he had treated her. She didn't deserve this.

Mar shook his head, keeping his voice as low as he could. 'No, it's me who is sorry, Rey. It's my fault you are here. This is all my fault because I'm selfish and I should have left you out of everything.'

'You just wanted to do what was right.'

He shook his head, lifting what material he could away and beginning to clean her wounds. 'Not at the expense of anyone else, especially not you.'

'I forgive you then.'

Mar huffed, closing his eyes briefly. 'What am I supposed to do, Rey? My hands are tied. You can't walk out like this, and if I take you…I…they will never…I will be their enemy. I don't…I can't—'

His voice broke and Rey sighed, far too heavily.

'It's hard to do things that you know the people you love will hate you for.'

Mar was silent, just wrapping bandages around her before she spoke again. 'I can feel how angry he is. All the time, but moreso now. I don't know what to do, what can I do?'

The Kiffar shrugged gently. 'We will see him soon enough.'

He heard footsteps and stood, backing away from Rey as Xhona entered, tossing a canteen of water at her prisoner. Rey let it hit her and then slowly unscrewed the top and took a long drink. Xhona stood over her, her teeth bared before Mar took her by the elbow, dragging her out of the cell.

The action earned him a punch across the face, and Mar's fists tightened by his side as he felt blood drip from his nose.

'You are going to contact Kylo now, this has gone on long enough.'

The Mirialan's lip twitched and she glared towards the cell. 'We have gotten nothing from her yet.'

'Would you have her die first?' he answered, teeth grit together. At Xhona's lack of a reply, he continued. 'It won't work anyway. She won't give anything up, she'd rather die.'

Mar looked back towards the cell, his brows furrowed, before he moved swiftly back to the makeshift medi-chamber, where Yonduun still lay, his breathing harried.

He sat on the furthest cot, his hands shaking as he felt the Force practically screaming at him. He was here, yet he was leaving Rey next door, to slowly weaken, leaving her in pain and confusion.

His eyes caught on something then, and he stood, moving slowly towards Xhona's satchel that sat in the corner of the room, the flap half open. Taking a quick look behind him, he reached inside, pulling two datapads from it, and he turned them over, the anger building in him once more. These were Kylo's – the pads that had disappeared.

Mar straightened, taking his spot beside Yonduun again, feeling how the atmosphere around him shirked away in his anger, that the Force grew erratic by his own rage. In that moment he wished Kylo had killed Hux, because at least then, he wouldn't be face to face with the general's manipulations of Xhona — handing her datapads that if Kylo knew she had, would make matters far worse than they already were.

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate it :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

* * *

Kylo stumbled up once the pain in his side had subsided, panic setting deep within him. He could take pain, yet this seemed to transcend himself, and he couldn't think of its origins being from anywhere other than from Rey.

He could do nothing from across the galaxy if she were in pain, and he felt his chest begin to tighten with the anxiety of his helplessness. If she were with the Resistance, then it was likely that she'd go to Naboo when they moved in on the First Order, since Hux was so sure that they would.

Pushing the lever on his door, Kylo trudged through the hallways, force-pushing people out of the way to avoid a collision, until he reached Hux's ready-room. He didn't knock, and when he opened the door, there was a gathering of officers all laughing together. Gesturing and threatening with a hand, they all spilled out, leaving him with Hux.

'Is there a problem, Supreme Leader?'

'Were you not going to tell me that you are currently executing your plan?'

Hux's lips turned into a slight smile, mirthful almost. 'I thought I'd best wait until you woke up.'

Kylo ignored his mocking tone as the general stood. The Supreme Leader's hand was tight in a fist, leaning against the table. He felt sweat drip down his back at the dull ache that seemed to settled into the base of his neck.

'I thought I'd take the initiative and get started, and since Opan didn't succeed in killing the queen because of that girl, I sent your knights to finish the job.' Hux said casually, while picking up a datapad and placing it in Kylo's hands.

Kylo was staring at Hux though, the datapad falling from his grip and hitting the table. 'You did what?' his voice was tight, barely able to get the words out, nor very loudly.

Hux hesitated, his eyes narrowing, and he swallowed, beginning to repeat what he had just said. He didn't finish, however, as Kylo had lifted a hand, squeezing the general's throat.

'The girl was on Naboo?' he questioned, and Hux nodded, struggling to breathe as the capillaries in his eyes began to burst. Kylo waited several more seconds before letting go, and Hux fell to the floor, coughing and struggling to regain his breath.

Thoughts whirred through Kylo's mind, enough to distract him from Hux scurrying away while he stewed in his anger. Xhona, Mar, Kem and Yonduun had followed Hux's orders once more, not just with carrying out this assassination on the queen – but to do something he had explicitly told him he didn't want them to do. Find Rey. He couldn't help thinking that perhaps they had succeeded in finding her, perhaps they had even hurt her – because he'd felt her pain as if it had been his own body.

Kylo leaned against the table, feeling his chest ache, tightening with fear and weakness. This shoudn't have gone so far, and it was his fault. He'd thought he could trust all of the knights, yet they had gone as far as this – to them they probably thought it was a favour they were doing him, and Kylo couldn't help thinking how much more pathetic he had become.

His opportunity to kill Hux had been right there, yet what more would that have done? Even when all he could think of was Rey, and whether she was in danger, his own inability was his only other thought. The fact that after all his failings, he had nothing to account for. Even Rey wanted him nowhere near her.

Turning back to where he came from, he started down the hall, bypassing his quarters, his ready-room and moving directly towards his ship. He wouldn't come back here, it had no purpose anymore – not without allies, not without a desire to fight anymore.

Stormtroopers parted as he moved through and boarded his ship. Several tried to follow, though he waved them away, taking the pilot's helm himself and starting up the engines. It was just as he pulled out from the hanger bay that the communicator panel went off, and he sighed, pressing the intercom button.

'We have the girl, we're on Drexel.'

Xhona closed the connection immediately after and Kylo stared out the viewport, his eyes trying to fixate on a point within the void of space, wanting to connect with Rey. All he could feel was this distant pain from her, and he furiously inputted the coordinates, talking himself into not over-reacting – that even if she wasn't safe, she wasn't dead.

 **XxX**

Xhona threw the communicator at Mar, forcing him to catch it. 'Are you happy now?'

He inhaled noisily but made no answer. It was useless trying to explain to her what she had done, because it meant exposing Kylo and his lies – it meant exposing himself too. There were too many things the knights didn't know, and even if it had been the right thing to do at the time, nothing good would come of it now.

Mar could feel Rey's gentle and pained presence through the wall, and he grit his teeth trying not to react, trying to remain calm. He knew he couldn't leave her here, yet what else could he do? If she were in better shape, perhaps they could fight their way out together, but then that ran the risk of injuring the others, which is what he didn't want.

'We should try again before Kylo gets here,' Xhona started, lifting her sword from the high table that lined the wall of the makeshift kitchen.

The Kiffar blocked the door, however. 'I think she's at her limit.'

'I think you underestimate her.' Xhona countered quite simply. There was no vitriol in her tone, though he felt something give within him, and he looked away from her quickly. The compulsion was quick and thick, and as out of practice he was at reacting to Force compulsion, he felt his mind bend ever so slightly.

It was easy to forget for Mar, that Xhona's grip on the Force, though practically non-existent, didn't mean it didn't manifest itself at the most inopportune times – particularly when she was most confident in her own skills.

'Thank you, Mar.'

She smiled, and Mar felt the muscle in his cheek twitch as she moved from the room, having to force his feet to move to follow her.

'What will you do if you kill her?' he questioned after her.

Kem was already in the cell, having tied Rey's arms once more and feeding her drips of water from the canteen. Her cheeks were rosier than they had been, but the delirium was still in her eyes, and she stared past Xhona and Mar as if someone else was there.

Mar closed his eyes, looking at the ceiling. He was a selfish coward for letting this happen to her. She'd been here for more than a day already, and what efforts he had made to deal with her wounds had not stopped the fever that now possessed her.

Kylo would be here before the sun had set, and if Xhona had her way, Rey would be dead before then.

'She's feverish, so might not give you much,' Kem commented, moving from Rey and towards the door to put the canteen away.

Xhona waved her hand, making irrelevant his words. 'All the better, she's much more likely to spill like this.'

'What's the use?' Mar murmured, leaning against the wall beside the door, staring into a corner of the room that had been darkened by a beetle's nest. 'If the Resistance follow the First Order to Naboo, then they will be destroyed anyway. All we will have is their prized bull.'

'I don't see the issue, Mar.' Xhona was smiling, her sword in her hand and the dull end resting on her shoulder as she held it aloft. She edged towards Rey, looking down at the woman, whose head had lulled slightly. 'Either way, what Kylo wants will come to pass, and he can make the final blow. He will have his vengeance.'

Mar snorted, and Xhona turned to him with raised brows. 'She did us a favour by killing Snoke, don't lie to yourself. Who would ever avenge such a master?'

That seemed to give her pause, but mere seconds passed, and she shook her head, looking back at Rey. 'It doesn't matter, this is what Kylo wanted.'

'Xhona.' Her name fell from his lips too quietly, too earnestly, and she turned back to him immediately, her sword dropping to her side, a curious look on her face. 'Can't we just leave? Can't this be it? We don't need Kylo anymore.'

Her eyes narrowed, and he could see her throat moving slightly. 'You would betray him?' she questioned. 'Like Julius? Or worse, like Jojen?'

'Why must it be betrayal?'

Xhona's expression turned sour and she stepped closer to him, staring him down. 'I killed Jojen because he was going to kill Kylo.'

'You didn't give him a chance,' he spat in return. 'You always fight before you think. It was no different when we were still with Luke. You lack restraint and call it good leadership.'

Her hand was tight in the front of his shirt, and Mar felt the lightsaber he had attached to his hip bump against his thigh. If Xhona stood any closer, she would likely feel the weapon within the folds of his jacket. 'You would have this fight with me right now?'

Mar glanced at Rey and nodded his head. 'You went to Naboo without me, on Hux's orders of all things, as if we are his hired hands. It's not necessary for us to be loyal to anyone but ourselves.'

'Are you loyal Mar? Truly? These days I've begun to doubt it.'

He huffed. 'You are my sister.' Xhona's jaw tightened and she loosened her grip. 'Does anything else have to matter? Must we continue to cover our hands in blood?'

'This is the way, Mar.' Her eyes were on the ground, a crease playing between her brows. 'With the Resistance – with this girl out of the way, he'll teach us, won't he, Mar? Then nothing else will matter, not the First Order, not who rules this stupid galaxy.'

Mar was silent as she met his eyes again and he could see it then – why Rey was here at all, why Xhona wanted so badly to get rid of her. She was an obstacle – a distraction. Now that Snoke was finally gone, Kylo could continue their learning in the Force. Mar had suggested it before, but he hadn't realised how much Xhona might have wanted to learn – have fixated on it almost.

And now he didn't know what to do. Rey was the beginning and the end, she was the sole glimmer of importance in Kylo's life. Mar had seen it in that throne room – Kylo had given everything up for Rey, and his mission to find her, whether that involved killing her, seemed to be what he relied on now.

'What will you do if he doesn't? Even without her?' Mar questioned. Now wasn't the time to tell the truth.

Xhona's eyes skated between his before her hand dropped and she put her sword in the sheath at her side. When she looked back at him, her gaze had hardened once more. 'I don't know.'

Mar was left with Rey once more, hoping that she had a little bit more time to recover before Xhona came back – and Mar didn't doubt that the Mirialan would. He walked from the room soon after, moving outside for some fresh air. Yonduun's arm was bandaged across his chest, keeping his dominant arm in position. He was staring up at the cliff-face the small building was notched under,his mouth in a grim line.

'Kylo will not like this, will he?' The Iktotchi murmured.

Mar shook his head before continuing towards the ship he had taken. His hands absently checked the controls, adjusting the inside of the small ship. It was large enough for three and had a tiny bunk in the back. As he took a seat in the pilot's chair, his fingers flicked over the navigational chart, and his eyes scanned the various star systems within the current sector. He scoped out, his finger moving the screen to reveal the systems to the right of the map, until his eyes landed on Ahlenn.

His communicator went off, and he removed it from his inner pocket, eyes narrowing at the masked transmission code. He flicked the accept button and Lieutenant Wynn's holographic likeness appeared.

'You were right.' She began, and Mar raised his brows as she began to speak, quickly and quietly. 'I took the schematics for the weapon from Hux's private server, I know how to sabotage it. Will you help me?'

Mar blinked, his brows raising. 'I don't think I'm in a position to—'

Wynn shook her head. 'You are, I know it. I can feel it, or sense it. Anyway, I just know it.'

He almost smiled, feeling sudden mirth move through him as he looked into Wynn's holographic gaze. She had sensed it? Perhaps that was the strangeness Mar had sensed from her – wholly related to the Force.

'You plan on committing treason?'

She stared at him, silent for several moments.

'My loyalty is to the galaxy – to the people in it.'

Mar smiled and leaned back – idealistic, even with her background. Despite his surprise, he didn't comment on her words.

'What will you have me do?' he asked.

She swallowed. 'Would you be able to contact the Resistance? If they are able to disable the communications on the other planets Hux plans to attack, then all of their attention can be directed at Naboo.'

'Even if for a short time, the First Order will be scrambling,' Mar mused aloud. 'I suppose that could work, if I'm not shot on sight.'

Mar's thoughts went to Rey, and his hand absently tightened its grip on his thigh. This could be his opportunity to not only get her out of here, but to help her – help the Resistance. Even if it had never been his intention before, it seemed the only way out of this mess now.

'I know you took the data, Mar.' Wynn murmured.

'How?'

She smiled. 'I cleaned up the mess you'd made taking it all. You aren't very covert; did you know that?'

He grimaced but did not disagree. He had been in a rush to get off the _Supremacy_ and chase after the knights.

'That information should be more than enough for the Resistance to end this, finally.'

Mar took a breath and nodded. 'I'll try, but—' he cut himself off, deciding not to tell her what he was in the middle of, where he was and who with. 'I'll try.'

Wynn nodded and closed the channel, leaving Mar with few options. Especially with Kylo getting ever closer.

He stood, his hand gripping onto the hilt of his lightsaber before he left the ship, walking down the ramp and deciding how he would get Rey out of here without having to harm Yonduun, Kem and Xhona.

There was shouting then, and he frowned as he sped up, walking through the open door and seeing the three knights surrounding Rey, Yonduun standing in front of her. His arm was still in its sling and he held a dagger out with his free hand.

'What are you doing?' Mar asked sharply, eyes firmly on Rey.

'Yonduun is getting in the way.'

'Stop Xhona. It's enough. She has a fever, she cannot take any more.'

Xhona glared, moving closer to Yonduun, smirking at the dagger in his hand. Mar moved further inside, pushing past Kem, who was hesitating, no weapon in his hands.

'I will say when she has had enough.'

'Kylo will be here soon, Xhona. It is enough.' Mar said, trying to keep his tone even.

Her gaze snapped to him and she moved towards him. 'It's starting to seem like you both are trying to protect her.'

Mar rolled his eyes, though he couldn't stop himself from glancing at Rey, and Xhona caught this, reaching towards him and grabbing his jacket collar.

'I will not fight you, Xhona,' Mar warned.

'Then just do as I say. I am the leader.'

He huffed, and she let go, looking to bypass Yonduun.

'Kylo is our leader too. We shouldn't go against what he has requested of us.'

Xhona closed her eyes and removed the sword from its sheath and held it directly at Yonduun. 'I will make sure you cannot move your other arm.'

Yonduun's expression was passive and Mar drew closer, his brow furrowing.

The sound of a ship breaching the atmosphere sounded and they all turned, momentarily distracted. Xhona moved first, pushing Kem out of the way, who followed after her. Mar waited for Yonduun to move, though even he hesitated. Once the room was cleared, Mar knelt beside Rey, his hands feeling for her pulse and hissing at the heat in her skin.

The binders had already been removed from her and he swallowed, his thoughts everywhere as the minutes ticked down.

'Rey?' he murmured. His hand touched her temple, and he willed the Force to give her strength— to wake her.

She blinked and her eyes met his. 'I am going to get you out of here.'

'Ben?' she murmured. 'He's here.'

Mar took a breath and pulled her up. With some assistance from the Force, he managed to pull her through the door and down the opposite end of the hallway. He could hear a ship landing on the opposite side of the complex to where Mar had left the ship, and he moved quickly, knowing that the back – where his borrowed First Order vessel remained – was free for at least the next few moments.

It was a mad dash to the ship with Rey over his shoulder, and he quickly laid her down on the small cot inside, before moving out again. He stepped back down the ramp, trying to regain his breath as he looked back at the small base. The overhanging cliff face that the small building lay beneath was all that he could think of and Mar took a deep breath as he reached his hand up, willing this to work. It was all he had left.

 **XxX**

Eight hours.

That is how long it had taken Kylo to travel from the _Supremacy_ to Drexel, and by the time he was entering the upper-atmosphere of the barren, half desert-half sea planet, he was drenched with sweat. The ship had been cold, yet he had been burning up – with fear, he imagined, but also with whatever was wrong with Rey.

The connection had still not opened, and he could make no sense of any wisps of emotion he had managed to grasp onto.

His landing was poor, and he'd stumbled out of the ship before the ramp had fully opened, tearing towards the solitary structure that the knights had used on occasion for prisoners. Despite his senses being a mess, he could still sense four life-forms in the area, and he could feel her distinctly. There was a throbbing pain to her presence that he felt more strongly now, and it was like she reacted to it too.

He moved quickly inside, Xhona, Kem and Yonduun standing within the open back door, two of them with weapons in their hands.

'Why?'

Xhona froze at the tone in his voice – how it was filled with such fierce anger, his eyes glaring into her own.

'She is still breathing. We did as you said, you may finish her off.'

The words seemed to set him off, and he pulled his lightsaber from his hip, flicking the switch and filling the cell with the erratic purr of his weapon. 'Where is Mar?'

There was a sharp, screech like sound and Kylo looked up, hearing something harder than rain begin to hit the metal roof above. He frowned, sensing something was wrong, though soon after, the sound picked up, until the roof began to cave and crash.

The four of them dived out of the shelter, barely avoiding the rock fall that fell from the cliff-face above.

'Rey,' Kylo groaned, falling back as a small boulder grazed his shoulder, debilitating him momentarily, but causing blood to quickly fill his glove. He pulled himself up, tearing back through the building and to the cells.

It was only when he'd cleared the now blocked opening of the cell with a heavy and strenuous utilisation of the Force, that he saw the cell was now empty, blood all that remained.

The sound of a ship launching into hyperspace boomed outside.

It was Xhona's screams that roused Kylo as he stared into the empty room, his feet having brought him to the blood-covered chair, his hands touching the arms and then reaching for the binders that were on the floor.

There was too much blood.

His anger broiled within him, his lightsaber once more in his hands. His anger moved away from the room, and back to the three people who remained outside, Xhona's own blazing fury potent as she screamed out towards the ship that had left the atmosphere with Mar and Rey within it.

* * *

 **Drexel was a poor choice, I realised - the terrain isn't right. Haha. I hope you enjoyed! I should really reply to you guys' comments, they are so lovely! Know that I appreciate and read them all :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

* * *

Kylo swallowed as he backed out of the cell, the lightsaber loud and erratic in his hands, harmonising with the white noise that pounded through his head. He saw Rey's own lightsaber among the rubble and he reached for it, shoving it within his cloak.

His anger was difficult to differentiate from the knights', and when he moved through the complex and back outside, he just stared at them. The lightsaber still blazed at his side, and his shoulder ached with the wound he'd gotten from the falling boulders.

Yonduun's eyes were on the ground, confusion overwhelming him and Kem was little different, looking to Xhona for orders, though keeping some distance. Xhona, however, had turned the boulders that had fallen from the cliff into rubble. Her gloves were torn to shreds, the skin beneath them ripped and bleeding, her eyes red, and her cheeks puffy and covered in tears. She leaned forward, her knees in the dirt and her shoulder's hunched over.

'Get up.' Kylo's voice was severe, even if its volume was low.

Xhona's eyes flicked to him, and Kylo felt her pain; a sudden wave of it hitting him as if he shared a bond with the Mirialan and not with Rey. It made his grip on the lightsaber slacken slightly, and he was reminded of not only Julius – and of his rashness in killing the man, even though he had truly betrayed them – but of the others at the temple. At the time there had been little choice, but during Kylo's most solitary of moments – when the Light would seek him out – he did regret the decision he had made. Snoke had taught him ways to stifle the emotions towards his past like cauterising a wound, but now without his master, the wound was open yet again, having been left to fester.

The Mirialan stood, regardless, though her gaze did not reach his – her eyes resolutely on his chest.

'What else did Hux tell you to do?'

Xhona didn't move, but Yonduun stepped closer, his mouth set in a grim line. 'He sent us to Naboo to assassinate the queen.'

Kylo's lip twitched, and he glanced at Kem, who was staring at the blade and nothing else. 'So why is the queen alive and you had…you had _her_ here?'

'You wanted her,' Xhona said through gritted teeth.

His anger flared again, and he moved closer to Xhona, her eyes finally lifting to him. 'I ordered you not to follow Hux's instruction, and now you continue to be dishonest.'

'I thought…he…he gave us the datapads, and they —'

'—What datapads?' Kylo interrupted sharply.

'Regarding Resistance movements – where their current base could be located. He said they were yours, and he was passing them on, on your orders.'

Kylo grit his teeth together and was silent, the blade finally extinguished. For a moment, his anger towards the three of them waned, instead wanting to kill Hux for manipulating them – because Kylo had almost struck them all down, even though this had all been Hux's doing. Mar had been right to put more trust in them, especially now that Snoke was gone, yet he hadn't.

He closed his eyes, swallowing and finding some relief in the steady pulse of Rey in the peripheries of his mind. Trying not to think of Mar and what his actions could possibly mean.

'How could Mar betray us, Kylo?' The vulnerability in the words confused the Supreme Leader for a moment, because they came from Xhona. He looked at her then, and she was crying, and it was like being thrown back into the past. A past where they had not hidden their emotions, where their friendship had formed and had been the only reason Kylo had survived that night.

Yet Kylo didn't understand. There was no explanation that he could create where he could understand why Mar would betray them, and why he would take Rey. The Kiffar couldn't have known who Rey was to Kylo, so the only other explanation meant leverage, and for what, Kylo didn't know. He'd known Mar for too long to be so blindsided, and as Kylo looked at Xhona's tears, he could only be angry at himself. He had chosen to trust Mar most among all the knights, yet Mar had been the one to turn against him. With what quantity of information, Kylo couldn't know.

'I'm sorry,' Kylo finally murmured, feeling the immediate confusion of the others fill the air. 'I brought you all to this point, and to what end?'

'We followed you,' Yonduun commented quietly. 'It was a choice.'

Xhona nodded, reaching towards Kylo and gripping his shoulder, her gaze fierce. 'You will give us your orders. We will find Mar, we will do what needs to be done and we will bring that girl back here for you. Luke's legacy will end with her.'

Kylo swallowed, tampering down the tempest that his emotions had become. Their endeavours held no purpose when he had no desire to fight any longer – the Resistance, the destruction of it all, that had only ever been a means to find Luke. Snoke and Hux had been the ones who wanted to see the end of his mother's exploits. Luke was gone now, so finding Rey had become Kylo's goal, and even if the meaning behind that desire had been staunched in his own delusions and confusions, it was all he sought.

Luke's legacy…they could avoid the facts, yet they were there, in the power that still flowed through the knights in front of Kylo, in the connection that they had wrought together.

'We are Luke's legacy, and we cannot deny it. We are only standing here now because of him, and it doesn't matter what he tried to do, because that is our reality.'

Xhona's features wobbled, Yonduun's eyes had hit the ground and Kem stared resolutely at him, his hands visibly shaking.

'You would discredit all we have done since?' Xhona questioned, her voice scratchy. 'You would give him the credit?'

Kylo frowned, his hand reaching for Xhona's on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. 'Yet that is our past all the same. I've tried to reject it, but I know it deep within me. I know and I don't want to fight that reality anymore.'

'But he tried to kill you,' Xhona roared, her cheeks wet again.

He nodded, and Kylo closed his eyes, seeing his uncle disappear on the salt plains of Crait once more as Kylo had raged at him, trying to get his vengeance, trying to finally end it all. End the fight he had been fighting for a decade. Kylo hadn't reflected properly over what it had been like to feel his uncle slip from the universe, and the realisation that the man had done it for him, came to Kylo unwelcomely.

'And what he did won't change.'

Kylo couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud – that he'd never forgive his uncle, that he had ruined his life, because despite it being true, what did it matter now? He could not change the past, but he would not forget it either. 'I won't lead you anymore. Do as you wish.'

'No,' Xhona whispered, shaking her head. 'You can't.'

Kylo stepped back, causing her hand to drop away, and he looked at his lightsaber briefly, as if debating, before he attached it to his hip again. 'I have taken enough of your lives, use the rest for yourselves.'

'What about Mar?' Yonduun questioned, frowning deeply. 'What could he possibly want with the girl?'

'I will find him,' Kylo answered.

'He is a traitor, he should be dealt with,' Xhona hissed.

Kylo looked at her again. 'Do you truly believe that?' he asked, searching his own feelings and finding there was no hatred there. Mar was his brother, and for once, Kylo wanted to understand first before attacking. He thought of Luke's final moments with irony, and turned away from the knights, moving back towards his ship.

 _Strike me down in anger and I'll always be with you._

It was as he alighted the ship that the anger fully eased away, and all he felt was the tight and overwhelming grip of clarity fall over him.

He would end this all, and the Skywalker legacy with it.

 **XxX**

Mar's jaw was tight, his teeth straining as he lifted Rey from the cot.

He could hear the clamour outside of the ship, and considering the Resistance had believed him over the radio enough not to shoot the ship out of the atmosphere, he imagined that they might at least wait before they executed him.

Rey groaned, beginning to regain consciousness again. The trip to Ahlenn had been five hours and Mar'd done his best to re-wrap the worst of her injuries while they'd been in hyperspace, but he knew he'd done a poor job. Knowing that she'd likely berate him afterwards, he had quickly wiped away much of the grime and blood from her skin with a damp cloth from the small 'fresher, and had changed Rey's clothing – finding a spare plain black jumper and leggings that the First Order officers wore under their uniforms.

Mar's hands were still shaking from the risk he had taken to get Rey out. He didn't know if he'd injured the others when he'd caused the rockslide, but he couldn't go back now – he had betrayed them, even after all his promises to Xhona, he had done it in the end.

The doors were forced open just as he turned to exit, pulling Rey more steadily into his arms.

There were blasters pointed at him and Mar sighed lightly.

'If you would get some medical assistance.'

'Rey?' Poe Dameron cut through the throng of armed Resistance soldiers and looked at Rey as she stirred. 'What did you do to her?'

Mar swallowed, remaining quiet. It was his fault too. Instead he pushed past the commander, using whatever hand movement he had available to him to manoeuvre through the crowd with the Force.

'Who are you?

Mar had no idea who the voice belonged to.

'That is not your concern,' he answered, hoping they got a clue.

Mar managed to make it to the tarmac before someone else stopped in front of him. FN-2187. Rather than look at Mar with sheer anger, he looked down at Rey, deeply worried.

'I can take her,' he murmured.

Mar hesitated. Without Rey in his arms, there was no reason why the soldiers he was surrounded by wouldn't descend on him, and Mar knew he wouldn't go out quietly.

'I can't,' he answered, his voice just as low.

Finn glanced at him confused, though seemed to allow it in order to get Rey into the facility quicker.

Despite being surrounded by a whole squadron of armed Resistance fighters, they did not interrupt as Mar, led by Finn, entered the bunker.

It was a short walk to the medical bay where General Organa stood, waiting. Mar fought meeting her eyes, knowing she'd see what was there, but as if it were out of pure compulsion, his eyes met with hers regardless, and then she looked from Rey and back to him, a question in her eyes.

Rey blinked and struggled in his grip, leading Mar to put her down on a cot. He was still within touching distance from her when his arms were grasped from behind and he felt himself be wholly disarmed.

His knives, Jojen's vibrosword – that'd he'd attached mid-flight – and the lightsaber he had left tucked within the folds of his jacket. Mar twitched, his eyes not leaving Leia's.

'I was hoping I could leave here unharassed.'

'What happened?'

Leia looked over his shoulder and his arms were freed, though Mar still frowned.

Rey looked up at the ceiling with confusion while a doctor moved over her, checking her with a dermal scanner and quickly gouging the extent of the young woman's injuries. Mar imagined that aside from the stab wound, most of the damage came from food and water deprivation.

Xhona, at the very least, did not use torture methods that were visible.

'I was late,' Mar answered, his hand tightening into a fist at his side.

Leia glanced to the left, making Mar follow too. His weapons were in the hands of Lieutenant Connix, his lightsaber the most prominent within the pile.

'Is this Rey's?' the Lieutenant questioned, though she seemed more interested in getting the answer from Leia, than from Mar.

He debated on whether to reply, even though Leia seemed to know the answer well enough. 'It's mine,' he eventually answered under the steady stare of General Organa. 'I could not retrieve Rey's.'

'Who are you?'

That question again.

'Is that really important?' He asked, continuing to try and evade giving answers.

Leia narrowed her eyes, straightening and adjusting her cane. 'You have come here with one of my people, who is barely conscious and has been missing for several days, and then I find that you're heavily armed, with a lightsaber no less.'

'A person has to have the ability to defend themselves.'

Leia laughed mockingly and she approached, but diverted, moving closer to Rey and standing on the other side of the cot.

'There's a word for people like you who constantly evade.'

'Untrustworthy?'

'Frightened.'

Mar squared his jaw, his brows meeting. 'I am not frightened.'

'Then why are you looking at me as if you are seeing a ghost?'

Mar sighed heavily, looking at the ceiling. 'I think it's best that I leave.'

'Hmm.' Leia looked down at Rey, fingers combing through the woman's loose hair. 'Did you bandage her up?'

Mar nodded.

Rey looked over at him then, narrowing her eyes as if to check that it was really him. The doctor had already attached an IV with nutrients and a dose of antibiotics to her arm, which seemed to be working swiftly.

'Mar?'

'Ah, so Mar is it?'

He cursed under his breath though painted a pained smile onto his face.

'Considering Rey seems to know you and doesn't want to kill you, can I assume that you haven't come here for untoward reasons?' Leia asked.

'Where is Ben, Mar?' Rey's voice was fierce as she glared. Whether it was at him or the situation, he wasn't sure.

Leia looked between the two, her expression quickly having moved through a litany of emotions, landing on hope.

'He won't find you here,' he answered tightly. 'Do not ask me again.'

Rey struggled to sit up, and despite the protests of the doctor, she did manage.

Mar could still feel the eyes of the other people standing behind him and in the doorway. Leia seemed hesitant to send them away and he cursed once more. Rey was going to make this impossible for him.

'What will you do to him?'

'I'm not…' he swallowed and met her eyes, and then looked back at Leia. He had lied to Rey. She thought he was hellbent on destroying Kylo, yet was it logical to try and convince her differently? Instead he looked to Leia.

'I have the First Order's plans. They are in my satchel in the shuttle. Naboo was the first part of their plan, but now they are moving on to the next phase, so you must work fast to stop them.'

Leia seemed spurned into motion then, news of her son momentarily excused. She gestured to Lieutenant Connix who seemed to understand with only gestures and the young officer moved from the room, ushering the viewers with her. Mar could hear the whispers of 'who's Ben?' as they went.

Commander Dameron entered then, seemingly held up by the traffic and he placed himself between Mar and Leia at the end of the cot, his eyes on Rey. Finn came skidding inside soon after.

'I shouldn't be here,' Mar said, swallowing. 'I... you don't understand what I did to get here.'

'You are welcome to tell us.' Poe answered, though Leia was silent, meeting his eyes carefully. Mar knew she was analysing him, letting the Force aid her.

Finn sat at the edge of Rey's cot, but she didn't respond to his words, her eyes were set on Mar. He knew she was waiting to hear the truth, but he did not want to give it.

'Whatever you say doesn't have to leave this room,' Leia murmured.

'Is it not enough that I am giving you what you want?' Mar asked, exasperated. 'I brought Rey here, she is safe now.'

'You knew them, didn't you?' Rey said angrily, leaving him to merely sigh.

'What happened, Rey?' Poe asked.

'Kylo's knights. Before the First Order arrived and after the queen had been escorted to a secure location, they abducted me.'

'The Knights of Ren?' Finn questioned. 'I thought they were a myth.'

'They are very real,' Rey growled, looking squarely at Mar.

Mar stayed silent, holding her gaze. At the very least she couldn't penetrate his own mind.

'And Mar was your rescuer?' Leia assumed. Then she seemed to recall his lightsaber. 'Or were you both imprisoner and rescuer?'

Mar burst out laughing then, unable to help himself. Things had gotten so far out of his control, that even he was impressed by the sudden incompetence on his part. There had never been a problem he hadn't been able to talk or fight his way out, and here he was, floundering because Rey was glaring at him, and making him feel the full force of his guilt.

The energy in the room seemed to change and they all looked at him as if he was deficient in some way. Mar knew that Kylo was looking for him, and not only was he endangering these people by remaining here, he was not exactly helping himself either. Mar had no idea what Kylo would do, and the extent of his rage – that Mar'd been able to feel from miles away – was enough to convince Mar that finding an isolated planet in the unknown regions was his best option.

Rey huffed, and she leant back on the wall behind her, glancing at her own injuries, and at the needle sticking out of her arm. As she sat in silence, there seemed to be something forced in her expression, and her hands gripped the cot's edge tightly.

Mar watched her, glancing briefly at Leia, who seemed to be the only one else in the room who had noticed the change in the young Jedi, but unlike Mar, she seemed to understand it.

'Where is Ben?' Rey repeated.

'For Kriff's sake,' Mar said under his breath.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he took a moment to understand why she was continuing to ask. He hadn't considered that this was the reason – that it wasn't simply some connection that the two had made in a forest on an ice planet in the Unknown regions or in Snoke's throne room. Their link was soul-deep and whatever Ben was feeling right now, she could probably sense the same. And Mar had left him raging, thinking Rey was on death's door – abducted by his traitorous…whatever Mar was now. Though surely Kylo knew that she was okay now.

'I left before he could follow,' Mar answered. 'Which is why I need to leave.'

'Why are you calling him that?' Finn was looking sombre as his eyes met Rey's.

Mar couldn't say he wasn't elated to find he wasn't the only one who had been lying. It seemed that at least one person in the room didn't know the extent of Rey's connection with Kylo.

Rey looked at Finn with guilt, looking briefly at her hands and then back at him. 'It's complicated,' she admitted. 'But that doesn't matter right now. Where is he, Mar?'

'Why do you need to know?' Mar asked. 'Are you in any state to find him? Is that what you want to do?' He huffed and looked at all the faces in the room. 'Do you plan on fighting him? Killing him? Capturing him?' he questioned.

'It sounds like you're trying to protect him, bud,' Poe said. Though the words were casual, he was glowering at Mar with a heavy wave of distrust.

Rey's lip quivered, and she did not answer, eventually looking away from Mar in favour of looking to Leia, who stood in silence.

'If you want to leave so badly, perhaps you should.'

'General.' Poe practically screamed. 'We have no idea who he is.'

Leia shook her head. 'We know enough. He's a Force user that Rey doesn't see as an immediate threat. Regardless of where his allegiances lie, he did bring her back to us.'

Rey shook her head, though. 'Mar, please don't go. Don't you owe me that much?'

Mar met her gaze, knowing that she saw through his lies now. She knew who he was, had figured that he couldn't know so much from simply being a good spy. He had been involved, so he was complicit, even if he hadn't grabbed her himself. But then he did care about her, even if he wasn't arrogant enough to call them friends.

'You don't hate me?' he questioned, truly not understanding why she wouldn't.

'I know why you did it,' she answered.

Poe sighed, a hand rubbing down his face and then fixing on the scruff of his beard. 'This is all very dramatic, so once you two stop performing for us, could one of you please explain yourselves?'

The doors opened again and Lieutenant Connix rushed in, holding Mar's bag in her hands, and placing them and his weapons at the table beside Leia.

'The information is on the datapads, all of them. I took everything I could,' he looked at Rey and swallowed. 'Which I suppose is part of the reason why I wasn't there to stop them.' His eyes met with Leia's and he breathed. 'I doubt that Kylo will go back to the fleet, considering Hux will likely attempt another assassination. Because of what I did, Kylo will likely be looking for me, and I was very messy getting here.'

'What did you do?' Finn questioned.

'He left with me.' Rey answered, putting her head in her hands. 'Surely he doesn't think you will hurt me?' Her gaze reached Mar's, her eyes wide and wet with unshed tears.

Mar smiled wryly. Even though she knew very little, she knew enough that Kylo might at least hesitate in killing him.

'I didn't know what he would do to you.' Mar murmured. 'I couldn't trust that he wouldn't hurt you, regardless of anything else. I know better now, but I couldn't leave you there any longer.'

'I believe you,' she sighed. 'And thank you,' she added, her voice dropping an octave.

'Is he not aware of what he will find here, if he comes?'

Mar shook his head. 'I may be a traitor, but I'm not a fool. I did not tell him about your base, and I will not.'

'He won't harm us,' Rey stated, quite simply. 'I think he's done.'

'What do you mean done?' Poe asked.

Rey swallowed, looking up at the pilot and trying to channel her earnestness into a single expression. 'Done with the First Order, at least that's what I feel.'

'Isn't that just wishful thinking?'

She shook her head and sighed softly. 'I have been dishonest. About what happened before Chewie and I flew to Crait, about the things that happened on Ahch-To.' Rey closed her eyes, deciding that this would be easier to do without having to watch their expressions. 'Snoke triggered a connection between Kylo and I, and it means I can feel him. How he feels, sometimes I can even see him, right in front of me, as if he is there even when he is millions of miles away.'

Poe and Finn looked disturbed, though Mar could arguably say that they didn't look suspicious of her, more worried than anything.

'Why didn't you tell us earlier?'

Rey's eyes blinked open and she met Finn's gaze, smiling wryly. 'There were other more important things to think about, and honestly, it was quite difficult to think about. I failed to change his mind…I failed Luke…I failed Ben, and I was so sure I was right. I was so sure.' Tears began to fill her eyes, and Mar swallowed, his own throat growing tight.

'What about Snoke?' Poe's voice was gruff, still not understanding.

Leia stepped toward Rey, sitting beside her on the cot, and taking her hand in hers softly.

'Ben killed him. To save me.'

That left both Poe and Finn in silence, and they looked at each other, before realising that both Leia and Mar were aware of this fact.

Rey wiped at her face with her free hand and her throat bobbed. 'It doesn't change what he has done, but it's important, isn't it?'

The two men seemed to be in agreement and Poe whispered to Finn, before they both nodded. 'We trust you, Rey.' Poe started. 'I think we can agree that between you and Leia, it's yours to handle. We can't…we can't be diplomatic about it, and we aren't in a position to be.'

Finn nodded. 'We will follow what you think is right.'

Leia's hand tightened in Rey's, and the young Jedi looked to the general, who merely nodded. 'I think we should let Rey rest, since we've got a lot to go over before we leave for Naboo.'

General Organa stood and she moved towards Finn and Poe, taking up the datapads. They glanced at Mar before looking back to Rey, who smiled wryly at them, her tears having slowed, and the three of them left the medical bay.

Rey looked to Mar once more, her lips pursed as she watched him. He relented under what felt like a questioning raised eyebrow, and he sat at the edge of the cot, not commenting as Rey took his hand in her own.

'Was there ever a time when you didn't know?'

He smiled. 'I didn't know most of the time.'

Rey blinked. 'So, you weren't manipulating me on behalf of Kylo?'

Mar shook his head, snorting lightly. 'If he had known that I knew who you were – even merely how to find you, he would have done everything in his power to get the answers out of me.' He took a breath, meeting her eyes steadily. 'It wasn't right of me, I know, but you must know it was necessary, and I cannot apologise for that.'

'I expected you'd say that.' Rey pouted, but didn't push.

'I just needed to know for myself – how it was possible that you could kill Snoke and his guards, and even knock Kylo out. You had to have been formidable.' Rey smirked, and Mar amended his words. 'You are formidable. I saw what you did to Yonduun.'

'So, he didn't die?'

Mar shook his head. 'I thought you wanted the heads of your captors?'

Rey shrugged lightly. 'Perhaps revenge is overrated? I just want this to be over.'

'I couldn't find your lightsaber,' he murmured guiltily. 'Though I want you to take mine until you get yours back.' Mar removed his hand from Rey's and reached towards the table, his hand gripping the metal before placing his weapon into her open palm.

Rey smiled. 'I promise I'll get it back to you.'

He chuckled lightly and nodded, standing finally. 'I don't think that Kylo is completely a lost cause.'

'I know he isn't – or at least, now I do.' Her hand rested over her heart and she sighed lightly. 'There are some things that can't be denied, aren't there?'

'So, you will look for him?'

'I don't think I have any other choice. The Force calls, and I follow.'

Mar frowned, but nodded, strapping his other weapons back onto his person. 'I will do better. For everything I have done, even if I die trying to atone for all of the wrongs I have committed.'

'Mar?' He paused half-way to the door and looked back at Rey, his lightsaber still in her hands. 'You did right by them,' she said. 'They will forgive you.'

He snorted, shaking his head. 'Perhaps once I have been dead for a few hundred years. Goodbye Rey.' She nodded her head, as Mar left out of the door, passing the large Wookkiee – whose hands were full of books – as he moved back through the base, pretending that he wasn't being openly glared at.

The few moments of Rey being alone in the medical bay were worrisome minutes filled with self-doubt and pain. Her body ached terribly, though the bond still pulsed unforgivingly through her, and it comforted her, even if she was frightened of where Ben was, and what he was doing.

Mar had promised that she hadn't told him about the base, but Rey knew she couldn't just lie in a cot while Leia gathered the troops to move in on Naboo with the plans he had brought them. She needed to go with them and find Ben. Enough was enough.

'Just wait for me,' she murmured, her eyes closed as her hand tightened on Mar's lightsaber.

Chewbacca entered then, greeting her enthusiastically, the Jedi tomes stacked in his hands. She grinned and laughed when he dropped them on the cot before pulling her into a half hug, trying not to disrupt her injury or the tubes that were attached to her.

'I'm okay, I promise' she murmured with a wry smile.

He nodded, but checked her over himself anyway, making Rey laugh again.

'Why did you bring the books?'

The Wookiee waved his hands and shrugged. _I thought you might need them._

She nodded, reaching over to the nearest one and flicking it open, her eyes scanning over the page. 'Do you think this will help Ben? Has this all been enough to convince him?'

He gave a non-committal answer and Rey sighed. Even if Ben had changed his mind about it all, it wouldn't be simple – his indiscretions were numerous and Rey knew that they needed to be made up for. But she knew in her heart that it would be worth it, and she would help him, she wanted to help him, she wanted to be there with him.

'Could you get Leia to come back? I'd like to speak with her.'

Chewie nodded and left the room, and Rey chewed anxiously on her thumb nail as she waited for the general to return. When she did, her expression was somewhat relaxed, and it eased the tension that had Rey's back pin-straight.

'I want to go to Naboo.'

Leia smiled, hand stroking Rey's hair once more. 'I knew you'd say that. We leave in 12 hours, Poe has already taken Finn and a few of black squadron to land on Hays Minor, Eriadu and Utapau to bring down First Order comms. It seems that your friend Mar brought us some vital information.'

'I suppose not all of my decisions have been bad, then.'

She sighed gently and shook her head. 'I wouldn't say any of them have been bad. You followed what you felt was right, and if all goes to plan, we can finish this once and for all on Naboo.'

'Is the queen alright?'

Leia nodded. 'She is safe. The small quantity of Naboo's forces are in trouble, though. The Gungans have yet to intervene, so I'm not quite sure what decision has been made among them.'

Rey was silent for a moment, taking this information in and feeling that despite her nerves, she had to speak now. It was her last chance, and she didn't need any foresight to know so. 'If I bring Ben back…' she paused, amending her words. 'When I bring Ben back, what will happen?'

The general's lips were pursed. 'I don't know but bring him all the same.' She smiled and pressed a brief kiss to Rey's forehead. 'Only time will tell.'

She turned then, leaving the room swiftly despite her cane, and Rey was descended upon by Doctor Kalonia once more, her IV changed and the bandages at her waist checked. Despite the poor condition she had come in, Mar had stopped her from getting an infection after all, and the bacta bandages had repaired much of the deep tissue damage already.

Rey knew she'd be ready in 12 hours. Whether that meant ready to fight in a war, or finally face Ben, she didn't know. But she was ready all the same.

 **XxX**

Mar sat at the pilot's controls, staring out at the tarmac, watching as the Resistance prepared the ships they had managed to straggle together since he'd last been here. Though they didn't amount to the numbers they'd had before Crait, it was enough, he thought. Enough to disrupt things, enough if the Gungans turned up to finish the job.

He felt useless just sitting there aimlessly, not really knowing where to go next. For a moment he thought maybe going to Naboo would be a good idea, but then what role would he play?

His helmet sat beside him in the co-pilots chair and he sighed. What face would he wear from now on?

The ships comms went off and Wynn's face was there again.

'Have they got the information?'

Mar nodded. 'Where are you?'

'On Atterra Alpha where the weapon is. I'm trying to figure out how to get into the launching bay without the right clearance codes.'

The Kiffar didn't reply for several moments before swallowing. 'Let me come with you.'

She blinked, clearly not having expected the words.

'If there is one thing I can do, I want to make sure that this happens.'

Wynn smiled. 'I'll send you the coordinates.'

The channel dropped and Mar looked out of the viewport one last time, before his hands went to flicking switches and readying the ship for flight. It took him little time to be out of Ahlenn's atmosphere, and he jumped into hyperspace, the coordinates already inputted.

* * *

 **You know it's crazy how much this story has changed from when I first thought it up. There are characters I introduced that I never expected to, and relationships forged that I never expected either. It's been such a wonderful experience kind of developing as I go - and it's not as if I don't usually write like this - expanding and growing the narrative as I write, but to this extent - it's never happened before.**

 **I'm happy with the changes I have made - there was too much anger in my original plot line, and a lack of resolution for many of the characters. This route seems like the ending all of these characters deserve. So I'm looking forward to how this finishes up over the next few chapters. PLEASE ENJOY!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

* * *

Twelve hours.

Twelve hours since Mar had sped off into the galaxy with Rey, and twelve hours of Kylo relentlessly trying to contact the Kiffar, trawling the surrounding systems for any word. It was impossible work to find a singular light shuttle in this sheer quantity of space. He tried to steel his resolve, focus on Rey's steadily beating Force signature – which grew stronger as the hours passed – yet it didn't help.

It was the unsurety of what Mar was doing that threw him. If this was a betrayal, then what did he want in exchange for Rey? She seemed to be doing better under his care, yet for what purpose had Mar taken her?

Kylo knew what he had to do – yet the idea of Rey being in danger seemed to be the one thing that held him back, even when he knew that he should go to Naboo and finish this all.

An hour more passed and he stopped, closing his eyes and wishing that he could connect to Rey in this moment. Yet as usual, the Force resisted him and his desires. Instead he did what he had planned – he inputted the coordinates to Theed and he took the few hours he had to meditate. His mind was clear, as if the Force were telling him, do this first and all will be resolved.

 **XxX**

Rey eased herself up from the cot, looking briefly down at the bandaged wound at her side, noting that though the injury had healed on the surface, it was still sore and felt as if the bruise went as deep as her organs. Doctor Kalonia, rather than chide her, only helped her up off the small bed, smiling warmly at her.

Ever since she had woken, her connection to Kylo had felt as swollen as the lump that had formed on her temple. It was uncomfortable – like he was making himself bigger in her mind, reaching and stretching too far for her. He felt unbalanced – moreso than usual. While it was usually anger she felt from him, this was a peculiar mixture of passive reluctance and dread. Rey couldn't understand it, no matter how deeply she tried to delve.

The hope she had in her chest that this was the final battle was swaddled by the worry she had for Kylo, and even when she had closed her eyes, trying to meditate to relax her aching body and her warring mind – to try and balance them both – it became an impossible task.

If she hadn't been so eager to push him away, to protect herself – even if she had foolishly said it was for the sake of others – perhaps it wouldn't have been so hard to find him now, to find a way to communicate with him. Yet she had pushed him away, trying to take higher ground, even if he had been desperately climbing to reach her anyway. She knew it now, more than ever, that just like their bond – it was an inevitably that Kylo could only war against his nature for so long. Rey saw it now, and only when he was gone from her, the bond present, yet unyielding.

Rey reached for Mar's lightsaber, and gripping it tightly, made her way through the complex, keeping her steps swift as she passed the fleets of people readying all of the ships and fire-power they had at their disposal.

She made it half-way through the hanger before Rose stopped her, a satchel over her shoulder and Rey realised, without a sling holding her arm in position.

'This is for you,' she grinned.

Rey looked into the bag, noting it contained a fresh change of clothing, as well as her NN-14 blaster.

'Leia told me you'll be going with the troops, and I thought you might need some proper clothes.'

'Thanks, Rose.'

The young engineer shrugged, and paused, her eyes narrowing at Rey's down-turned expression, even if it was set with determination.

'Finn told me, at least a little bit,' she murmured quietly. 'I hadn't…I don't know.'

Rey shook her head. 'It's okay, I know it's not exactly the best situation.'

'But you know him,' Rose answered. 'You know him inside and out, and that matters, doesn't it?'

'What can I do with that?' she questioned, more for herself than for Rose's benefit.

Rose smiled gently, gripping one of Rey's hands and squeezing it tightly. 'Anything? Maybe everything? It only takes one moment to change the tide, one moment to turn something tragic into something beautiful. To create, build and nurture hope.'

'You have a way of giving pep talks,' Rey answered with a brief chuckle.

'Well just think about everything you love, and if you forget about winning or losing, but think only about saving what you love, protecting what you love, then it is more than enough.'

The engineer pulled her into a tight hug, and despite Rey feeling the pain reverberate through her body, she squeezed her back just as tightly. They were only interrupted by Leia walking over, a wry smile on her lips. She took up the young woman's hand and pressed a kiss gently to her inner palm.

Rose smiled and moved away, removing her hyperspanner immediately and getting to work, while Rey was left with the general.

'Well…I suppose this is it.'

Rey nodded. 'We can go over it later if you want?'

Leia chuckled. 'I think that might be an idea. Though first, I'll update you. The Gungans have answered us, and are readying to attack once we arrive, so you'll ride with the ground assault team. Poe, Finn and the black squadron are in position, so it will be a simultaneous assault. Ground assault, air assault and a complete communications blackout. Or at least we hope. We can't let this fight drag on, so it's all in, all hands on deck.'

'What if I…' Rey couldn't finish the thought, though Leia knew exactly what she was meaning to say and sighed gently.

'Do what you think you must in the moment. Only think about it if the situation comes up, and not before.'

Rey huffed gently and nodded, her grip on Leia's hand tightening. 'I hope it's different now,' she murmured, closing her eyes and breathing heavily.

'As do I.'

Silence fell over them for a moment, before Leia let go and kissed Rey's cheeks and forehead gently. 'Be safe, Rey.'

The young Jedi nodded, feeling the gentle hum of Mar's lightsaber at her hip. Even if it was not hers, it would do.

Rey exited the hanger, seeing that the larger shuttles had already been taken outside and they were being packed with munitions and soldiers were prepping their own weapons. Rey bee-lined for the Falcon, knowing she had little time left. Chewbacca had already prepped the ship for flight, and her eyes fell over the empty interior, feeling the Wookiee's life force elsewhere on the ship.

She felt it then. The familiar stirring that had been absent for days now, that she was resolved to believe it was okay to feel. She could have this one thing, it didn't have to be as terrible as she had originally presumed it to be.

His hands were in tight fists as he stood facing away from her. There was the light drizzle of rain on the shoulders of his cloak, his hair wet and his breathing heavy.

'Ben?' she murmured. His name left her in a huff, tainted in relief. Yet she could feel his emotions - how they seemed so unsure, how she felt as if he were trying to push her away.

Moving closer to him, his shoulder flinched and she paused.

'Ben, I'm here.'

His breath left him quickly. 'I know.'

'Mar…he did not harm me.'

There was a spike of anger that evaporated quickly against Rey's anxiety. 'You care that much about Mar? Worried that I'm looking to kill him for taking you?'

'What would you have done if he had not?'

Kylo was silent for several moments, though he did not turn. 'You know what I would have done.'

'And have regretted it?'

Rey could see his jaw square. 'And you don't want justice for what they did to you?'

'Not through death.' She began towards him again. 'Ben, look at me. I don't understand your emotions.'

'Then ignore them.' He swallowed. 'It is enough that you are out of this.'

Rey frowned, finally close enough to touch him, her fingers ghosting on the folds of his clothing. 'Out of what? How do you imagine that we will ever be able to untwine our lives?'

He mumbled and to Rey, it sounded so much like he was saying 'don't' as if reading her thoughts as well as her emotions. Still, her hand reached for his, her bare hand slipping across the rough leather until she was clutching his glove-covered hand.

'This is the end, isn't it?' She asked.

Kylo swallowed and nodded.

'Then look at me. Once it is all over, I won't give you a choice then.'

'The choice will be mine.' He answered, and he stiffened as he felt Rey's forehead come to rest against his back. 'It will end with me. This will all end with me.'

Rey stumbled forward as the bond snapped closed and she kept her eyes closed, wiping at the tears that leaked from them.

 **XxX**

Mar flicked the reject button on the communicator for the fifth time during his journey to Atterra Alpha, trying to convince himself that ignoring Kylo would amount to something good in the end. Still, he slid the device into his pocket as he put the ship into auto-land in the port, his clearance codes still working.

He was strapping his knives to his hips and Jojen's vibrosword to his back when the entrance slid open and Wynn stepped through, still dressed in her officer's uniform.

'No one has questioned why you're here and not at your post?' he asked.

'It was easy enough to change my designation,' she responded, a small smile on her lips.

Mar straightened and his eyes glanced at the blaster at her hip and then back up into her face. 'You seem rather calm, considering.'

'I have faith.'

He snorted lightly, checking his belongings once more. 'Are you one with the Force now?'

'I don't know what that means,' she answered, swallowing awkwardly. Mar was left to stare at her. He didn't know the officer very well. He didn't know where she had come from, what her upbringing had been like. Mar'd always assumed that most of the officers had not been kidnapped as children, but perhaps he was wrong.

'You've seen so much of the galaxy, but none of its secrets,' he murmured.

Wynn was silent, and Mar walked past her, navigating towards the exit and waiting for her at the door.

'Well I'll have all the time in the world once this is done, right?' she answered, following after him as they exited.

There was a miniature datapad in her hands soon after, and she briefly showed Mar the location of the weapon as they walked through the First Order docking port.

'Groups of four guards on hourly rotation before the launch. Cameras at all entrances, though there is a blind spot for five seconds per hour when the cameras move out of sync. The problem is slipping into that blind spot without the guards noticing.'

Mar nodded, turning Wynn's thoughts over in his mind. 'How is the weapon to be disabled?'

She sifted through the large pocket of her regulation trousers and pulled out a small tin. 'Micro-detonations. They contain a nanite virus that eats through ten inches of durasteel in thirty seconds.'

'It doesn't have a triggering protocol?'

Wynn nodded, and her throat bobbed – clearly the singular thing she was most nervous about coming to light. 'When the alarm goes off, the machine allows for an auto-launch or for self-destruct. That's a captain-level clearance code, which I have.'

Mar chuckled, looking up at the darkening sky – the sun was quickly sinking, though he imagined that the time of day wouldn't help them much. 'You were wasted on the First Order, you should have been a criminal mastermind.'

She was silent and they continued to walk, the large complex becoming bigger as they reached the edges of the port.

'You still have your clearances, it doesn't seem that any have been stripped from you,' Wynn mentioned as they passed a handful of troopers.

He gave her a sharp nod and then followed her through the automatic doors, scoping out his surroundings as Wynn led them deeper within the building. Mar could feel the hum of activity – there were thousands within the building – and this site was not the only on Atterra Alpha. The training centre was half-way across the planet from the research and development centre that was housed within these walls.

There was an eerie silence to the place, and Mar only needed to guess that Hux had poached soldiers from here to carry out his attack. Once the weapon was launched, it wouldn't have surprised Mar to see the entirety of the planet move to attack too.

'The Resistance haven't struck yet,' Wynn murmured. 'It's been days now since the occupation on Naboo started, yet they are nowhere in sight.'

Mar nodded. 'I think they anticipated a larger scale attack before I'd even got there.'

'I heard some of the officers say that Hux is ordering more forces towards the Mid-Rim. He's growing impatient. There were groups of six guards yesterday.'

'Perhaps he's getting cocky, thinking these are his final required moves.'

Wynn's expression was grave as they continued through the complex. 'I don't trust that he won't move up his plans if the Resistance continue to stay back.'

Mar nodded in agreement, removing the vibrosword from his back, but keeping it silent as they hurried their steps. He could sense guards up ahead, drawing closer, and even if he had imagined they could get in and out of the complex with minimal bloodshed, the likelihood seemed to have lowered immensely.

'Follow me,' Wynn said, dropping the volume of her voice, as she seemed to take a diversion, and Mar followed.

 **XxX**

Chewbacca glanced hesitantly over at Rey from his position in the co-pilots seat, the red that had been in her eyes when he'd found her folded in the chair, only now just fading.

They were quickly approaching Naboowith orders to drop near Lake Paonga and to rendezvous with the Gungan forces there. The pair would join the ground forces, while the majority of the Resistance would be in the skies. It would only be a matter of time before Poe, Finn and the black squadron had taken down First Order communications, and even though Rey couldn't feel as far as they were, she knew they would succeed.

Rey stood, adjusting her newly gifted clothing – not dissimilar from her own clothes, but much newer – and she secured the lightsaber by the loop on her hip.

She could still feel the warmth of Kylo's hand that had bled through the material of his glove, and it stung to remember that he had been unwilling to look at her. After everything, if this were to be their final showdown, she at least wanted to meet without being each other's opposition.

They dropped into the atmosphere quickly, keeping as far from the First Order ground forces that had made their base just outside of Theed. They had chosen the location as if to further insult the Nabooian people after the First Order had already attempted to assassinate the queen.

Everything moved quickly once they had landed, and Rey was ushered to the back of the front lines where several small tents had been lined up. Chewbacca followed after her when she was led inside, and she breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Queen Kamiela sitting with the Boss of the Gungans, clearly in deep conversation.

Eyes were on Rey when she entered, and they gestured for her to take a seat.

'I'm glad you could join us, Rey.' The Queen murmured gravely as Rey took a seat beside her at the small rectangle table.

'Commander Dameron has informed us that the three communication stations have been destroyed and the black squadron are on their way here. However, unfortunately, General Hux has just arrived with three _Resurgent_ -class destroyers. He is seeking our surrender.' Queen Kamiela said, her expression hardened.

'What are our numbers like?' Rey questioned.

Boss Joseh adjusted in his seat, looking annoyed. 'Mine are not enough for an air attack. We can only handle the ground.'

Rey nodded, working through her options. Horns sounded overhead then, and phaser fire filled the air. The shrill sound of X-Wings and TIEs was close and she sensed that both Poe and Finn were planet-side, up in the skies.

'Not their flagship?' Rey questioned.

'It seems he was in a rush.'

Her brows furrowed, though she was not surprised. It had taken the Resistance days to make their move, so Hux had probably grown impatient waiting for them to come to their deaths. Though Rey had seen the destruction wrought on the _Supremacy_ barely three months before, it would have been impossible to bring the ship to complete repair in such a short time, so they had the upper hand. The First Order's greatest power wasn't hyperspace ready.

An explosion sounded overhead and with it came the sound of a ship hitting the lake behind them, followed by water dousing the sides of the tent.

Rey moved toward the opening, and peered out, looking up into the skies and seeing the three destroyers looming within the planet's orbit. It would be enough, this would all be enough. Moving back inside, she faced the two leaders.

'I will assist the ground forces, and direct away as much air fire from the troops as I can.'

'Thank you, Rey.' The queen spoke softly, smiling with her eyes, leaving Rey to exit, Mar's lightsaber already in her hands.

 **XxX**

Wynn's fingers moved over the computer at such a speed that Mar questioned how nobody in the First Order had noted her acuity in the Force. His vibrosword was still in his hands, only having had to finish off a few lives to get to this point. He was relieved about that.

Even though the machine had been well-defended, the paths leading to it had not. If this so-called 'genocide machine', which Wynn had taken to calling it, had been able to be activated, it would have meant the death of countless people.

'Five minutes to self-destruct.'

'Five?' Mar tried to keep his voice level, though Wynn was already running towards him, grabbing his arm as she moved.

'We'll need to get pretty far from here,' she groaned out.

Mar cursed, and sped up. It had taken them thirty minutes to get to the lab, so they definitely couldn't make it back to the docking yard in time. 'You couldn't have given us more time than that?'

Wynn chuckled, much to Mar's incredulity and she ducked down a hallway, tapping an access panel, and they watched as it swung open, revealing an escape pod.

The Kiffar was barely buckled in before Wynn was sending the vehicle careering into the sky and they barrelled over to the docking yard at top speed. The escape pod wasn't meant for off-world travel, so the thrusters felt like a crawl as the minutes passed by. Mar felt sweat trickle down his back, and as they crash-landed beside his ship, the explosions began.

Wynn was up and out before him, dragging him out of the damaged shell of an escape pod and up the entrance ramp.

'How big is the explosion, Wynn?' he questioned, his voice full of warning. He was beginning to consider that the woman he was running around with was unreasonably carefree about the things she blew up.

She seemed to blink as if innocent, and closed the ramp. 'Big enough to destroy the entire research and development base,' she said as she buckled herself in.

'And what do you want us to do now?'

'I recommend getting out of here as quickly as possible, because whatever forces that remained here will definitely be after us.'

Mar took a moment to look at her – really and truly look at Wynn. He didn't say anything in the end, when she just raised her brows at the attention, and he quickly flicked the switches, readying the ship.

They were in the upper-atmosphere a moment later, the ground of the ship yard cracking and the base in a blaze of fire as they shot off, jumping into hyperspace.

 **XxX**

Kylo patched himself into the First Order radio-channel. With a maximum transmitting distance of 200 miles, it would not be a suitable replacement for standard First Order communications, which Kylo guessed from the static that jumped from his comm panel, had been reduced to rubble. At least when it had come down to the wire, the Resistance had succeeded in doing something. Hux would find it impossible to rally any more Forces now.

He was silent as he sat in his ship within the rocky outcrop of Theed's largest waterfall and listened. Hux's voice rang out.

 _Send word to Alpha base. We are launching_ , _by any means necessary. Ransack the city for a communications panel if you need to._

'Captain Donmar speaking. We have got our hands on a third-party panel, however there is no response from Alpha base.'

There was an eerie amount of silence over the radio, before a shout and continued blaster fire rang out.

 _Get them to respond, now._

'Lieutenant Menthis. Delta base reports fires from Alpha base, sir. Censors tell us the self-destruct was triggered.'

Kylo switched off the radio, knowing well enough that both of Hux's plans had been foiled and Kylo distantly wondered if it had been Wynn who'd been able to do it in the end. The mastermind behind the First Order's eventual demise, just because she'd changed her allegiances in the final hour.

He couldn't say it didn't fill him with relief. Kylo pulled himself out of the pilot's chair, the two lightsabers attached to his hips, and feeling spurned on by the pulse of life in the crystal of Rey's. It was still so pure, so untainted by war and death, and it comforted him somewhat.

It wasn't just that it was Rey's lightsaber. It was that her hands had built it—held it. Like she had tried so desperately to hold him in their last moments together. Kylo sighed, pushing the water away from him with a hand and moving among the rocks and down to the base of the huge cliff.

Kylo could feel her here and had for over an hour. Felt her pulsing heart, her fears and of her wish to fight. He knew she was in the throng and for once, he was glad he had not looked at her during their connection, because he knew it would have convinced him against this path.

Perhaps it was poetic that the legacy would end here – on his grandmother's home-world, and perhaps where his family's problems had begun. If his grandmother had never become Queen, then maybe she never would have met his grandfather. For it to all finish here, Kylo could be satisfied with that end. The galaxy would be set right again, with Naboo at its centre. Naboo — where the Resistance could endure and succeed, where the Republic could grow again, where the First Order could fall, and where the traitor Kylo Ren could finally be defeated.

 **XxX**

Mar's lightsaber grew heavy in Rey's hands as she fought with the Gungans and Resistance. Though it was grating on her own strength, her eyes were constantly on the skies in order to divert as much fire from falling on the troops as possible. The X-Wings were slowly making a dent in the First Order manoeuvres, and Rey found herself taking moments to realign herself – to find balance in the Force and to feel out her surroundings.

She'd known Kylo was on Naboo since she'd arrived, and she tried to ignore her desire to look for him. His emotions were messy, and a constant worry addled her mind as she moved out into the battlefield and took a defensive position.

A First Order ship dropped behind their lines of troopers, and Rey narrowed her eyes, glancing up to see that the three star destroyers still sat within the upper atmosphere, likely not shooting directly at the Resistance in case of collateral damage.

Rey found herself pushing through the soldiers, Mar's lightsaber cutting through armour with ease and propelling her forward. Some backed away from her – scared, while others fought her head on, and Rey could taste their confidence as they removed melee weapons to fight her. Despite the screaming in her muscles, she pushed through, slipping through mud as she moved closer to the ship behind the enemy's lines.

There was a strange buzzing sound and she turned off the lightsaber in her hands for a moment, pushing approaching troopers away with the Force as her ears perked to the sound. It was the purr of Kylo's lightsaber, and she pushed through faster, realising quickly that less of the troopers were fighting her, and many were in fact running.

She saw the swing of the red blade before she saw him, and Rey pushed through, receiving a blaster wound to her thigh from her lack of care as she barrelled towards him.

The entrance ramp of the landing craft was wide open and stormtroopers poured from it, shooting at Kylo, despite him either displacing the bolts or blocking them with his lightsaber. By the time Rey had drawn close enough to call his name, he had tackled several stormtroopers and had moved into the ship. Rey followed quickly after him, though he had stopped in the entry-way, his body heaving with exertion.

'Ben?' Rey called, trying to approach him.

'Go back, Rey.' His voice was severe, and he began to move again, clearly looking for something on the sizeable transportation shuttle.

Rey did not follow his instruction, however, and followed behind him silently, torn. He had killed those stormtroopers – he was fighting against the First Order.

Her presence seemed to put him off – to distract his movements, and it was only when he homed in on a small cabin, Rey sensing a solitary lifeform behind it, did she realise what he was doing. The doors were pulled open with a quick manipulation of the Force, and Hux stood before them, his blaster pistol in one hand and a thermal detonator in the other.

'What will you do, Ren?' he smirked. 'What's my life worth to you?'

Kylo didn't respond, but Rey felt immediately wary, her eyes dropping to the bomb in the general's grip. The man seemed to notice her then, and his eyes narrowed, true realisation dawning.

'So it _was_ a lie,' he intoned, a half-laugh in his voice. 'You were working together this entire time?'

An invisible hand grabbed his throat and the explosive loosened in his grip.

'Ben no, if he—'

'Get out,' Kylo interrupted.

Rey reached for his hand, trying to sooth his temper with the Force and her fingers folded around his upper arm.

Hux looked frightened, though did not drop the device.

'This is ridiculous, the blast would tear us to pieces.' Rey continued, her voice shaking. She didn't know what he was doing, and she couldn't guess.

'Get out,' Kylo repeated.

This time he pushed at her with the Force and Rey went several metres backwards, her back hitting a wall and winding her. Her eyes blinked with confusion as she watched Kylo's hand tighten, Hux beginning to choke, and the strength in his fingers loosening until the grenade was slipping to the floor.

Rey heard his name yelled in her own voice before she registered that it was her doing the shouting. Her hand reached out, crumpling into a fist, and with it, the door slid shut and much of the wall around the room Hux had been in was pulled inwards, closing Kylo off from the room and leaving the general within it.

The hair raised on her arms a second before the bomb went off and the flame tore through metal, lashing at them both. Rey felt the sting of flames hit her thigh, but could feel Kylo's pain more pronouncedly. He'd caved in the wall that he'd been thrown into, and he was not moving. Rey only knew he was alive because she could feel the delicate beat of his presence, despite how unresponsive it was.

The fire was dealt with quick enough and Rey avoided looking at the fibres that melded into her slightly burned skin as she pulled herself over to Kylo, requesting that the Force assist her in removing him. Unless by divine providence, the ship would eventually explode, and that would have been worse than any grenade.

'Ben? Ben, wake up.' Her voice was calm despite the panic that she felt set in as her hands moved over his body, checking for wounds, though still frightened of touching him —of this being the first time that she touched his skin with her own.

He was unconscious, however, and no input from the Force would rouse him. Instead she pulled him up, channelling the Force into her muscles, cultivating her strength in order to pull the man from the wreckage.

The battle waged on outside, despite the death of the First Order's general. It was unclear for how long it would possibly continue, or how long until the stormtroopers who were meant to protect the General had been found dead, outside and inside of the ship.

Rey pretended to be invisible, hoping that she could avert eyes away from her dragging the injured Supreme Leader across the battlefield. It was easy to ignore the burns at her thigh – it was not as bad as the stab wound she had received mere days ago, and she was thankful that it was merely that. Even Kylo's injuries seemed superficial, though the knock to the head was another question.

Eventually Rey couldn't go any longer, trapped miles from the palace, though within the shelter of an outcrop of rock by the river's edge. The fighting was still loud, and her only worry was that any starfighters that passed overhead would see them directly, and prepare for an attack.

Rey steadily removed Kylo's cloak, noting that her lightsaber was slotted into his belt, though his was nowhere in sight.

Tossing the cloak to the side, she looked over his body, finding that there was blood leaking and soaking the dark material, though the biggest injury was the burn across his waist. Rey sighed, dipping her hands in the river water, before she removed Kylo's outer tunic. The charcoal shirt that sat beneath it was soaked darker and Rey frowned over the scraps of metal that stuck out of his skin.

Cupping water gently, she tried to irrigate the wounds as much as she could, though she was ill-equipped without even a single bacta-patch on her person.

It was only when Rey patted down her clothes that she realised the small device that sat within an inside pocket – a replacement communicator that Mar had left with her, placed in the satchel that Rose had given her. She sighed with some relief, activating the distress beacon and hoping that he followed the call.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys! Sorry I missed posting this last Sunday, I wasn't completely happy with it yet. Hope to post again tomorrow! :D**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

* * *

Mar wiped the sweat, grime and blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, moving toward the refresher to grab a washcloth, which he hastily soaked with water, before pulling it across his face. He rinsed it and wiped until the water drew clear and he sighed, looking at himself in the mirror.

His eyes traced the yellow tattoos that marked his tan cheeks, that marked his legacy – who he had come from and the future that was still his. He'd forgotten. It had been so long since he'd truly had his own agency, or had his own decisions to make. The last decade following Kylo had been almost aimless, his actions wholly selfish, but of no true meaning. Now, he had the ability to change his path, yet his thoughts were blank.

He swallowed, placing the washcloth on the side and moving back into the cockpit. The energy seemed to leave him as he sat in the pilot's chair and stared out of the viewport. He heard Wynn climb out of the tiny cot in the back of the ship and she sat next to him, the co-pilot's chair swivelling toward him as she watched him.

'Why are you so quiet? We succeeded.'

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, rubbing a hand down his face. 'Everything I have done up to this point...it seems so meaningless now that I think about it. An absolute waste. And now I have no idea what I should be doing.'

She hummed gently, in thought. 'Perhaps we aren't so different – we could say both of our lives truly start today, no?'

Mar frowned and turned his chair. Wynn's legs were crossed underneath her, and it was the most casual he had ever seen her look, even if her back was still pin-straight. Her hair had already been carefully swiped back, the grime cleaned away from her face and her in clean civilian clothing.

'What do you want to do with your life, Mar?'

His jaw was set as he met her gaze, perhaps trying to find his own answers in her eyes. 'I just want it to be a life where I'm honest.'

Wynn smiled, nodding. 'I've always considered honesty to be an important attribute. Though does that also mean that you should clear up your unfinished business?'

Mar looked wary, and his eyes looked to the stars as they shot by. He had no idea what destination Wynn had inputted into the navigation, though it only took a few swipes to see it. 'Naboo?' he questioned.

'I sensed that it's where you should go.'

His eyes narrowed, but he couldn't help the brief flicker of amusement shown in the tilt of his lips. 'You're not just hanging around because of the Force?'

There was a spark of mischief in the dip of her cupids bow as she smiled again. 'Will you teach me what you know?'

His own smile came full tilt now. 'I knew you were after something.'

'It has felt nice to be led by something that doesn't have an ulterior motive – that just is.'

Mar nodded as his finger scratched at the communications panel. Wynn was right. 'Perhaps you should lead me,' he murmured, though nodded. 'I will set things right.'

 **XxX**

Twenty minutes passed without a response and Rey occupied her time by finding a more conspicuous resting place beside the river. The rocky outcrop that she had set upon had minimal ground visibility, but the fear of an aerial attack meant she shifted them a hundred metres upstream, where the rock formation was more conclave at the river's bank.

The sinking sun lit up the entirety of the opening and Rey adjusted the still unconscious Kylo, his cloak and outer tunic abandoned.

Her fingers found the hard edge of the communicator in the folds of her tunic and she pulled it free, her eyes on the flashing light. She stumbled through communication codes that she knew, trying to reach her friends, trying to reach Leia at the base, yet the calls went unanswered. If she weren't so attuned to the Force, Rey knew she would be panicking, yet there was a sense of calm expectation that flowed through her. She knew they were still alive, she knew that the Resistance was winning.

Rey breathed an air of relief, before tossing the device on the grass. She leant forward before sitting down, her head lowered and her arms resting on her knees. She felt Kylo stir before she saw him move and she blinked, finding him watching her from his place propped up against a boulder.

'Why?' His voice was strained, and now she could feel exactly where he felt pain. It was beyond just the injuries he had sustained on the ship and she suddenly felt angry that he would mask his emotions from her, that he would lie to her – even if it was by omission.

'Why did you decide to do something so reckless?' she questioned. 'You could have spoken to me,' she pressed, kneeling beside him, and hiding the pain in her leg from showing on her expression.

Kylo looked away, wishing that he had the strength to coerce the Force into pushing the shrapnel deeper into his skin. To set himself alight once more.

'Ben,' Rey said sharply. Pulling him out of the darkness forcibly. Her power felt like she was gripping his shirt collars, shaking him.

Rey huffed, shaky and tired as she looked down at Kylo. Her heart ached to watch him, to feel him so closely and so hurt. She knelt, slipping closer to him until she could touch him.

'Look at me,' she murmured. 'After everything, could you at least look at me?'

His lip quivered, but his eyeline did not reach to meet hers. 'You shouldn't have closed the door.'

She was silent for a moment, not sure if he was speaking of an hour earlier, or all those months ago when she had told him she wouldn't join him. When she had left him on Crait.

Kylo didn't seem to know either, and Rey felt his anger begin to simmer again, to fight through this loss of heart that had taken over him.

'You didn't leave me with a choice, you know that,' she whispered, closing her eyes. 'I went to you because I can't help but do it. If there is a choice between leaving you—truly leaving you, or saving you, I will always choose to save you.'

Her hand rested softly against his shirt-covered forearm, squeezing it gently.

'Ben, please.' He was silent and she felt a tear streak across her cheek. 'You would have left me? You would have been satisfied to leave a hole within me?' she questioned.

Kylo shook his head but did not look up. Rey's hand diverted its course, ghosting up his arm until he held his breath. Rey hadn't realised she was doing the same until she grew dizzy and huffed.

'You can feel what I feel,' she murmured.

His eyes flicked to hers and then she was reaching for him, their hands joining, and it was pure clarity. Her touch was healing, her own light bleeding easily into him where they joined and he could only stare at her, speechless as she lifted his hand and held it tightly against her chest.

'I could have ended it all,' he murmured, finally holding her gaze without trouble. 'If it had ended with me. Without me the galaxy would have been set right again.'

She sighed, her forehead resting against his, closing her eyes tightly, and feeling herself ebb and flow against him – trying to calm him like a steady tide. 'Then there would not be balance.'

' _You_ are balance,' he answered. 'I have caused nothing but pain and suffering, and I am undeserving of forgiveness.'

'Yet here we are, and I cannot leave you.'

'You can.'

Rey snorted softly. 'What is living worth if we can't save what we love?'

'You don't believe that.'

She smiled, and moved back slightly. 'You will see, even if I have to make you. There are few things I know for sure, and even if I've learnt many of them fairly recently, I know this feeling is real because it's what I've been searching for, for most of my life. It's not just my heart beating too fast, it's the feeling of home. Even if it isn't what I imagined, what we both might have imagined, I know you. I know your heart and you know mine. You can blame the Force if you like, but it is my reality now – that you are someone I love. That you are loved. It is simply that.'

He was silent and Rey sat back down on her legs, his hand still clasped tightly in hers against her chest, and her heartbeat quick against her ribcage. 'And because I love you, I will not leave you. Not to die here, not to make yourself a hermit like Luke, and definitely not to live without the full force of my love.'

'I don't deserve—.'

Rey shook her head, her smile wry. 'It's not about what you deserve. It's what I believe, and what I want to share with you – and that is my life. You may—we both may struggle, but I will be with you and we will face it.'

Kylo stared at her, and was surprised to find her chuckle lightly, before she had let go of his hand and her thumbs were sweeping tears away from his cheeks. Then her lips were pressed softly against his, her thumbs grazing his ear lobes, before she pulled away. The kiss brief, chaste even, but full of the warmth Kylo had grown accustomed to feeling slip from her and into his own mind—into his own heart. Even then he still stared, though did not stop her from wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him close against her.

'What will we do now?' Kylo questioned as Rey released him and sat back before standing.

He watched her as she peeked out from beneath the rock and looked to the skies. The fighters were sparse, the TIE-fighters almost ten to one, as if they had all been defeated or had ran back to their homes.

A small shuttle split through the clouds, moving quickly towards the two Force-users before messily landing on the river bank beside them, the ship immediately slipping into the mud. Kylo leaned up, despite his injuries, seemingly trying to find a way up in order to get in between Rey and the ship, as if he could fight with no weapon and barely the ability to stand.

Mar warily exited the ship, a vibrosword in tow and a weary look on his face. A young woman in loose beige shirt and brown trousers followed after him, with a blaster strapped to her hip and an officer's cap on her head.

'Kriff,' Mar huffed at seeing Kylo.

It was Wynn who stepped forward first, a frown causing her brows to meet in the middle. 'Is the Supreme Leader badly injured?' she questioned.

Kylo's brow twitched at the designation, though his eyes remained on Rey, despite his supposed traitor of a friend beginning to cautiously approach them.

'Who is this, Mar?' Rey queried, standing and placing herself in front of Kylo.

'I'll explain, but don't worry.' He paused. 'You didn't notify me that you had cargo.'

Kylo's eyes narrowed at him and Mar felt the Force compelling him to back away. Even if Kylo couldn't invade his mind effectively, there were plenty of other things he could do instead.

'What did you guys do, anyway? The battlefield is a mess from up there. Stormtroopers out of formation, a lot of running, and surrendering.'

Wynn looked between Kylo and Rey before she smiled briefly, her next words a clear statement: 'Hux is dead.'

Rey was silent for a moment, before she seemed to accept the woman in front of her and she gave her a curt nod.

'Could you transport us?' She asked, her voice quiet.

Mar's wariness seemed to fade when his eyes met Kylo's, and he nodded.

Kylo settled when Rey reached for him. The sensation of them touching was enough to relax him and he made no comment as he stood with the support of both Wynn and Rey. They helped him onto the ship and dropped him onto the small cot in the back of the cockpit, removing his shirt and tossing it into the disposal unit. With only a pilot and co-pilot chair, Rey was forced to sit on the edge of the cot, as she rifled through the first aid kit with one hand, Kylo unwilling to let go of her other.

'Where do you need to go?' Mar shouted from the front. Wynn had started the ship up, and she was inputting a path through any remaining air-fights.

'Ahlenn,' Rey answered.

Mar turned, not expecting that Kylo was ready to willingly hand himself into the Resistance. When he looked to his friend, however, the man simply nodded.

When Rey had a small selection of items balanced precariously next to her, she set to work properly cleaning Kylo's wounds, and removing the scraps of shrapnel. Her touch was gentle, even as she pulled him up to wrap bandages around his torso. Kylo was silent as he watched her, not paying any attention that they had left the atmosphere of Naboo, that they were hurtling through hyperspace.

Once Rey was done, she felt the cot tilt as Kylo sat up, pulling her against his chest, despite the fresh bandages that spanned his torso. 'I'm sorry,' he murmured into her hair, his throat dry and pained – as if he had been crying for hours. He held her closely, feeling the Force thrum deftly through her and then to him. 'I'm sorry.' He repeated.

Her hand soothed against his back as she held him, feeling the shoulder of her tunic dampen under his tears, before she gently curled up next to him on the cot.

They were both silent for the rest of the journey, Kylo having fallen asleep and Rey's concentration on the steady beat of his heart and how it beat in time with hers.

Wynn got up towards the last hour of their journey with a cup of sapir tea, and she handed it to Rey with a smile. The young Jedi drank the liquid down, feeling her body wake up from the hydration and glanced at Kylo as he folded himself smaller in the tiny cot.

The ex-officer did not exchange any pleasantries with Rey, she simply picked up another mug of tea, placed it into Mar's hands while taking control of the helm. The Knight glanced at the woman from the corner of his eye as he drank, and Rey rested her back against the wall beside the cot, wondering what she could possibly say to the Resistance to explain herself.

Kylo jolted awake when they dropped out of hyperspace, only stopped from bolting from the cot due to Rey's grip on his shoulder. She knelt at the edge of the cot with a loose shirt, not dissimilar to what Wynn was wearing, extended to him. He pulled it quickly over his head as he caught his bearings, before Rey passed him a mug of tea and a crusted loaf of bread.

She smiled when she eventually stood, and went to stand behind Wynn and Mar, her hands gripping the backs of their chairs. They were steadily entering Ahlenn's atmosphere, Rey reaching for the radio to make herself known, bypassing the required need of an access code.

'Rey?' Leia had taken the line from an officer, and the young Jedi beamed at the woman's voice.

'Yes, it's me.'

'We were worried when the ground forces lost sight of you. We heard there was an explosion. They found the general...or whatever was left of him, in the wreckage.'

'I'll explain later,' Rey said quickly, glancing back at Kylo who was sitting up with interest, the bread and tea forgotten by his side.

Leia seemed to chuckle. 'Well do come quickly, I've—.' The general cut herself off and Kylo adjusted in the cot, his mouth twisting. 'Is that—is that Ben? Is he with you?'

Rey smiled, meeting Kylo's eyes steadily. 'Yes. We will see you in a moment, Leia.'

'Yes, we will see you.' She answered distantly.

Wynn took the radio from Rey while the young Jedi moved back towards Kylo, lifting the mug from the cot and placing it within his hands again. He hesitated in drinking the still warm liquid, the reasoning clear to Rey.

'I will be with you,' she murmured. 'I'm right here.'

'Even when they throw me in the brig?'

She nodded. 'Your story is not at its end, so don't think that time can't change anything. That in time you can't help this galaxy for the better.'

'You think too optimistically.'

Rey shook her head, her expression serious—resolute. 'I saw our future, remember? Clear and solid. I am here with you.'

'Yet you worked so hard to push me away,' he murmured, sounding bitter.

'I did,' she answered, breathing gently, though did not continue when Kylo met her eyes once more. It wasn't necessary because he knew what she felt, and without the past, they wouldn't be here now.

'Thank you.'

Rey raised a brow at his words.

'Thank you for loving me,' he amended, his eyes stumbling between hers.

She stood, looking out of the viewport and the quickly approaching greenery. The mountain-side came into sight as they touched down on the tarmac, and Rey looked back at Kylo.

He seemed to internally debate, and Rey could feel what he wanted to say, even if he couldn't get himself to say the words aloud.

'All things will come when the time is right,' Rey said simply, holding her hand out for him to take. 'I promise.' She pulled him up easily and neatened up his shirt, which made no difference considering there were still specks of blood on his skin and in his oily hair.

Mar had stood, releasing the entrance ramp and stepping down first, Wynn close behind him.

Rey held her hand out for Kylo once more, it stretching toward him in a gesture not unlike the one he had offered to her—When he had offered himself, his future and everything in between. This time there wasn't a heavy expectation in her stretched hand; there was no sacrifice to be made; no exchange of blood. It was simply a choice with his heart as payment, and Kylo decided that he would gladly pay it.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. Last chapter this weekend - hopefully!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

* * *

Leia stared at the group of them, a mixture of relief and hope shining in her damp eyes. Rey could feel the love that flowed from her, and it touched not only her, but Kylo too. He seemed reluctant to look at his mother and Rey sensed his uncertainty, along with the mountains of guilt that hung on his shoulders.

'Take him inside,' Kaydel murmured, her mouth set with worry.

Rey hesitated, her hand still clasped in Kylo's, who stood behind her just below the exit ramp.

 _It's okay._

She felt his calm voice in her mind, and she let go, looking at him as he stepped past her, and several Resistance soldiers grabbed his shoulders.

The young lieutenant met Mar's eyes and passed over to Wynn before resting on Rey. She read her for a short moment before smiling briefly and nodding her head. The expression didn't ease Rey's apprehension, but she found herself incapable of feeling any ill will towards Lieutenant Connix. She was just doing her job.

Kylo was being walked across the tarmac, glancing back at the grouping of people as he was pushed forward. Leia's eyes were focused on him, turning her back on the rest of their group, her grip firm on her cane.

'What are they going to do with him?' Wynn questioned, her brow furrowed.

'Are you asking to be taken too?' Mar mumbled, trying to keep his expression level. It wasn't like he hadn't been treated with suspicion the last time he was on this base.

Wynn narrowed her eyes at him. 'Do they plan on arresting every single member of the First Order?' She questioned. 'FN-2187 seems to have done fine.'

He smirked and nodded, supposing she was correct.

'We should probably go,' Mar started, beginning to walk backwards up the ramp, before his jacket collar was grabbed by Rey.

'You are not going anywhere.'

Wynn chuckled, and jumped onto the tarmac from the end of the ramp. 'As long as there is some tea in the cell, I think we'll be alright.'

Mar groaned and his eyes flickered down to his hand when his lightsaber was placed in his palm by Rey, a look of intense gratitude in her eyes.

'Thank you for letting me borrow this.'

'Yes, please do join us inside Mar, and Mar's associate, though you are our prisoners,' Leia said, a smirk on her lips.

'It's Wynn,' the ex-Lieutenant murmured.

Leia nodded with a smile and the two were led away by the remaining soldiers, while Rey remained on the ramp, looking out at the base and then back at Leia. The older woman held a hand out to her, and Rey paused before taking it, finding herself in the woman's arms a moment later.

'I'm glad you are back in once piece – the both of you.'

Rey sighed, giving Leia one last squeeze before nodding. 'So am I. Will it—will he—.'

'Don't worry about that just yet. This is temporary. The base isn't exactly suitable for keeping someone like him inside.' Leia commented, separating from the woman and taking her arm to lead her back to the base.

The young Jedi's lips screwed shut, worried. 'Will it be up to me, then?'

Leia frowned. 'I want to say no, but that would be dishonest.'

Rey huffed and briefly nodded her head to the two guards at the hanger entrance. Unlike usual, the large hanger doors had been pulled open, likely to welcome back the ships from Naboo. Rey imagined that most of the squadrons were still on Naboo assisting the Gungan and Nabooian leaders take stock of First Order high-command.

'Do you have any idea what the Republic will do with those who have surrendered?' Rey questioned.

'It's hard to say. Many stormtroopers were brainwashed, stolen from their home worlds and brought into the enemy's forces. It isn't simply whether they are criminals or not, though Finn has made clear what he wishes to do with them.'

'Help them,' Rey said quietly, not needing to ask Leia.

Leia nodded and Rey briefly realised that they were not walking towards her ready room, where she sensed Wynn and Mar had gone, but instead they were delving deeper within the base, a little beyond where the hundreds of small staff quarters were. She did not comment however, until Leia dropped them at a locked door.

'We actually renovated the brig to allow for more quarters, as we didn't plan on holding prisoners here.'

Rey narrowed her eyes as Leia keyed in the code and the door slid open.

Kylo was sitting on the edge of a small metal chair, uncomfortable and staring at the wall. Her lightsaber had been removed from his belt and placed on the table in front of him. He looked up and stood immediately, Rey detaching herself from Leia's grip and moving toward him quickly, taking his hand in both of hers. Leia stepped in the room behind her and the door shut.

'You will have to play guard for now,' Leia murmured.

Her son's eyes met with hers and she sighed, the sound filled with relief. 'Ben.'

Despite it being unexpected, Kylo let go of Rey and moved towards his mother, his mouth fidgeting as he stood before her with his eyes on the ground. He breathed out, struggling to make simple deep breaths, and fighting against his own emotions. Rey's hand was on his back, warm through the thin cotton and his tears fell, splashing on the rock floor beneath them. Leia reached to him, her hand against his cheek and then she pulled him to her.

There were no words exchanged between the mother and son, only tears. Rey felt the tightness in her chest lighten – realising it had not belonged to her, and she felt the rest of Kylo's pained heart sigh with relief. Letting her own love flow through her to him, she felt that perhaps the future could be filled with hope alone. She wasn't scared to believe that and want that. The future didn't have to be dark and perilous. It could be bright. It would be bright.

 **xX Eight months later Xx**

Rey was silent as the din of the council chamber rose once more, Leia closing her eyes to the noise, her cane tight in her grip as she sat at the head of the table. As the meeting had become twice-weekly in recent months, most of the council were not in the room and communicated in via holograph. The shouts, however, were aimed mostly at Rey, who remained passive even amongst it all.

This didn't really matter, she thought. These were the words of people who wanted to utilise their newfound freedom, and though Rey wasn't their only target, she was their biggest.

'It was the Jedi of old who got us into this mess,' the Mon Calamari representative argued, his gills opening and closing quickly.

'Yes, and I don't think this is the same situation,' Leia responded.

'And what about that Kylo Ren? He was the Supreme Leader!'

'That is a separate conversation. We are talking about assignments, councilman.' Leia huffed.

'It is in our best interest to utilise all resources that we have at our disposal, including the ex-Supreme Leader,' Ola Gleen, the Coruscanti representative admonished, her head held high. 'If he truly has turned, as the Jedi says, perhaps we best take advantage.'

Boss Joseh huffed, his face going green with annoyance. 'What has he done to convince you? He is nothing but a murderer and criminal.

'We are all murderers in war,' Queen Kamiela commented, her holographic face relaxed.

'Councilmembers.' Leia's voice was raised and the room seemed to grow smaller as she spoke. 'This is the topic of assignments, not a conversation on morality in war, nor a conversation regarding Kylo Ren. We must build from the wreckage of the First Order, we must put our concentration on that first.'

Several council members grumbled, but were silenced by a sharp look from the general.

Rey swallowed and stood, her hands folded in front of her. 'I am at your disposal council members. If you wish to send me out of your sight, keep me close or even put me on an assignment, I am more than willing to do as you'd like.' She paused and swallowed. 'I would just be grateful if my future in your hands was more certain.'

Several councilmembers stared at her, thinking, and then shook their heads, beginning to grumble again.

Rey huffed and deciding that this was too much effort for little payoff, she pushed her chair back and moved towards the door. Kylo was standing on the other side, his back against the concrete wall while attempting to keep hidden. His grey clothing made his identity less obvious, but his size meant he was easily noticeable.

'I take it, it didn't go well?'

Rey groaned. 'I don't have any idea what they are thinking. They haven't even gotten to what they will do with you yet,' she sighed. 'How has so little progress been made in eight months?'

'Bureaucracy,' he answered with a smirk. 'I'll probably die of old age before they figure it out.'

She chuckled, leaning toward him, reaching and tugging at a strand of hair at the front of his head. 'Hmm, well I did find that grey hair right here.'

Kylo grabbed her hand and placed it down by her side, though not before kissing the inside of her wrist. 'You'll definitely be old by then too.'

Rey shook her head. 'I'm going to make it to a lean 300 years.'

He snorted and took a quick look around, before cloaking them briefly in darkness as he pressed a kiss to her lips. 'I love you,' he murmured. His eyes moved between Rey's, trying to save the expression on her face deep within his mind.

She beamed up at him, kissing him again.

'Sorry to interrupt.'

Rey turned around sharply at the familiar voice, surprised to find Mar smirking at them both in his leather armour. Wynn stood beside him in similar clothing and a lightsaber pikestrapped to her back. She was distracted with her datapad and gave a small wave, not looking up from her screen.

'Did you get clearance to come here this time?' Rey questioned.

Mar paused, ignoring the question. 'We decided to update the general personally, and we heard she's here.'

'With Republic leadership. It'd probably be a good time to go in.' Rey answered, narrowing her eyes at the Kiffar.

Wynn finally put the datapad away, adjusting the officer's cap that she continued to wear. Rey guessed it was to remind her of her past —where she had come from and where she was heading to. Mar was moving past them to go inside, but Wynn hung back, not entering the strategy room.

'We found a few more from the last two camps we liberated. Xhona and Yonduun are taking them home personally.'

Rey glanced at Kylo and he swallowed.

Mar and Wynn had disappeared very quickly after bringing Rey and Kylo back from Naboo, reappearing two months later with a battalion of ex-troopers having liberated three First Order & J-Sec Project Resurrection camps. Their numbers were growing steadily, but the majority of the abducted people they found, were taken back to their home worlds and families. With the olive branch of 'exploring the Force together', Mar had asked the knights for help, and they had all begun to make steps towards something better.

Even though the 'Knights of Liberty' as Mar called them, were covert in their actions, the Republic high command was well aware of what they were doing, and despite not saying it directly, it was clear that without their efforts, the camps would have continued to be up and running. Finn's role in rehabilitating the First Order soldiers took enough work and resources on its own, and the Republic had little left to spare. The galaxy was in the midst of great change, even if bureaucracy kept Ben Solo trapped on Ahlenn, in a make-shift prison with Rey as his guard.

Wynn placed the datapad in Rey's hand. 'We told them about you. Their details are all here, so it's up to you.' She smiled then, seeming to think of something humorous that the pair were not aware of. 'Mar always talks about legacy, and from the short trips we've taken to Kiffu, I can understand it now. A legacy is more than a choice.'

She opened the door and slid inside then, and the room was drenched in silence while Mar spoke, his voice being cut off only by the door closing once more.

Kylo's eyes were on the datapad in Rey's hands and then reached to her own eyes. There was a desire there that he could read clearly, and so he took the small machine from her hands, his thumb flicking through the names – names of children from all across the galaxy who had a glimmer of potential in them. Who were waiting for their own awakening in the Force.

'You want to do this?'

'Together,' she answered, a smile pulling at her lips.

He looked doubtful, his brows meeting, though he found himself chuckling when Rey reached to smooth his forehead with her thumb. 'What if it all goes wrong?'

'What if it doesn't?'

'I don't think I'm—.'

Rey shook her head, smiling. 'Together. If it's the two of us, we can do it.'

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this story of mine! I hope you enjoyed it and here's hoping that TROS blows our socks off! :D**


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